Letter: Wind farm developments threaten Welsh peatlands

The destruction of peat through large-scale wind farm development is threatening both our carbon reduction targets and biodiversity. Peatlands cover between four and 11 percent of Wales’ land area, but they store almost a third of our land-based carbon. Those planning to build commercial windfarms, and those who decide whether or not they can, must urgently address this serious and growing problem.

Developers’ claims that they’ve avoided placing turbines on “deep peat” are disingenuous. Peat itself is an ecosystem, with strata intricately connected; deep peat, shallow peat, peaty soils all playing their part in carbon sequestration. Damaging or destroying shallower peat and peaty soils will lead to fragmentation of this complex ecosystem, the destruction of deep peat and the release of carbon.

All peat is designated “Section 7 irreplaceable habitat” in Planning Policy Wales. As such, there is a presumption against development on it except in “wholly exceptional circumstances.” Nonetheless, official documents show that some 22 wind farms have already been built on peat and another two major schemes consented despite concerns from Welsh Government experts about peat on site.

Over 80% of peat is degraded to some extent, but degraded peat can be restored, as in Wales through the National Peatland Action Programme (NPAP). However, peat that is destroyed or removed, for example to make way for wind turbines plus their huge concrete bases and infrastructure, will be lost forever and carbon stored within it, maybe for hundreds of years, released into the atmosphere.

Decision makers have increasingly used ‘wholly exceptional circumstances’- ie the need for renewable energy - to override S.7 irreplaceable habitat protections when permitting wind farms and energy parks to be built on sites with peatland. But how many “wholly exceptional circumstances” can we afford before the loss of peat means that our Net Zero and biodiversity targets are missed?

This is not a rhetorical question. A Welsh Government briefing note dated January 2025 indicated that 35 of 45 wind farm applications in the planning system would have peat impacts.

It stated that if the “wholly exceptional” principle continued to be applied to all renewable energy projects it would mean that no peatland outside an SSSI or National Park would be protected, warning that this would have “significant implications” for the delivery of Wales’s Net Zero and biodiversity targets. It blamed developers for ignoring the Welsh Government’s “pre-assessed areas” for wind farms which largely avoid peat, failing to conduct proper pre-application assessments and failing to properly apply policy regarding S.7 irreplaceable habitats.

This is wholly unacceptable. Commercial efforts to combat climate change with technology must not be allowed to destroy the best natural resource against climate change that we have.

Jenny Chryss, Builth Wells