Solar farm planned for landfill site

A solar farm could be built on the site of a large household waste and recycling centre.

Cwm Environmental, which owns the Nantycaws site near Carmarthen, has commissioned planning agents to undertake a pre-application consultation about the proposal.

A design and access statement submitted as part of the pre-application said the company wanted to build the two-megawatt solar farm to help reduce its carbon emissions.

It said: “It is noted that the applicant was previously utilising the landfill gas generated from the historic landfill site but it will run out shortly. It is therefore become necessary to seek an alternative source of renewable energy to continue the applicant’s decarbonising strategy.”

The electricity generated would mainly be used on site with any excess exported to the grid. The visual effects of the solar farm would be contained, according to the design and access statement, as the area was partially screened by hedges and trees and new sections of hedgerow would be planted. It described the site as “semi-improved” grassland which would be managed in a way to become “species-rich”.

Arm’s-length operator

Cwm Environmental is an arm’s-length operator for Carmarthenshire Council and runs household waste and recycling sites at Trostre in Llanelli, Ammanford and Whitland as well as Nantycaws. Earlier this week the council’s cabinet approved plans to centralise kerbside waste collections at Nantycaws as part of wider plans to increase recycling rates and decarbonise its refuse vehicle fleet. The plans would mean black bin bags being collected outside people’s homes every four weeks instead of the current three, but not before June 2026.