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.
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I hope Rhun takes notice and delivers on peoples hopes. Whilst awate of the climate crisis, people need to be treated fairly. These unsightly monsters, built with foreign steel, manufactured abroad and installed by foreign companies show no tangible benefit to those affected. Their wishes should be given full consideration and be a priotity at all times
Grid is coal free. Bonus. Renewables are providing more energy year on year. Trump has proven we must detach from fossil fuels. So yeah, there is a benefit to everyone.
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-wind-and-solar-have-saved-uk-from-gas-imports-worth-1-7bn-since-iran-war-began/
(Plus, if you want to be indy then you need to be able to generate it and export it, Plaid stance on this was odd)
https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/april-2026/crisis-watt-crisis/
the critic. (paywall)
What GBeebies fans read in the ad breaks.
There are two 400Kv transmission lines from Wales into England, one in the south and one in the north. Wales gets nothing back from this export as we are not an independent country other than higher standing charges on our bills to pay for that infrastructure to export it. one of the largest growth in electricity by source into the GB grid other than this is the continental interconnectors at 19Gw, not renewables. This is because southern England is almost devoid of wind turbines.
Wonder how far the tentacles of the anti green lobby reach.
Felling our forests and puncturing our peat bogs for wind turbines is hardly green and neither is putting solar panels on fields, then importing or food. For Wales, the answer is offshore and the landscape of England used instead of getting a freebee from Wales and Scotland.
How much of the forest are cultivated and a mono species forest?
It’s crazy to take huge areas of good agricultural land out of production for solar farms. Then felling forests to puncture upland peat for massive on-shore turbines with associated pylons. The emphasis has to be community scale onshore and corporate scale offshore. There is the matter of devolution of the Crown Estate for the latter. On that matter I didn’t get a reply from my (ex) Labour MS, I did get one from the Labour MP. “Thank you for alerting me to this matter. I will certainly make some enquiries when we return to Parliament after the conference break to… Read more »
How much land vs amount available is it?
Its crazy that the main opposition to these developments come from the right wing parties. The Conservative Party placards in mid Wales were all accompanied by ones saying stop the industrialisation of Mid Wales.
Although they all seem fine with the large number of industrial farming practices going on or are directly involved in those practices themselves.
Wales is already producing far more electricity than it needs. Maybe now we can just use what we need, export the rest and charge for it. Time to take all generation into public ownership.