Campaigners seek pause on windfarm developments

Martin Shipton

A campaign group has called on the incoming Welsh Government to impose a pause on all large-scale renewable energy projects pending a review of energy needs in Wales.

In a statement issued after Plaid Cymru was confirmed as the largest party in the Senedd, the Powys-based group RE-think said the issue should be reconsidered.

A similar request was rejected by the outgoing Welsh Labour government.

The statement said: “RE-think offers congratulations to all the winners in the Senedd election. We congratulate Plaid Cymru on being the largest party, and wish them well as they set about forming the next Welsh government.

“With a new political landscape we trust will come a radical political rethink on proposals by Bute Energy and others to build industrial scale wind farms and overhead power lines in Mid Wales and beyond.

“We call on the new Welsh Government to immediately announce a pause on all large-scale renewable energy projects either proposed or already in planning, while a better, more holistic way to fulfil Wales’s climate obligations is worked out.

“Plaid Cymru and any parties that will be supporting it in the Senedd should understand that building more and more massive onshore wind turbines is not the way to meet Wales’s renewable energy targets. At the scale proposed they are not required and, without support from other technologies, simply won’t deliver net zero.

“RE-think calls for a pause to consider how a mix of renewable energy technologies can be developed which will lead to grid stability and real benefits to local communities without ruining landscapes, jeopardising livelihoods and destroying nature.

RE-think Campaign Lead Jenny Chryss said: “This election result presents a one-off opportunity to save rural Wales from the devastation that would come from building industrial scale wind farms across the land.

“Plaid Cymru has already recognised the impact that miles of overhead power lines and pylons would have on iconic landscapes and local communities, but in many instances the wind turbines being proposed will be up to seven times as high as those pylons.

“Under the previous administration the many communities threatened with this infrastructure felt they had no voice. They felt they were being used as guinea pigs in an experiment involving some of the tallest onshore turbines proposed in the UK. Now, with a new Welsh government coming in, they see a glimmer of hope. Please don’t let them down.”

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth is expected to be elected First Minister at the first meeting of the new Senedd term.