Wind turbine farm proposed for site of World War II plane crash

Lewis Smith, Local Democracy Reporter

Early stage proposals to develop a wind farm of national significance have been revealed for two parcels of land in a Welsh valley.

The plans, which are currently at the pre-application stage with Welsh Government could eventually see the construction of a site with up to eight wind turbines on land east of Maesteg, Bridgend.

An initial notification has now been handed in by applicants at Pennant Walters Ltd and could see turbines located on agricultural land below Moel Cynhordy, and at Mynydd Pwll yr Lwrch east of Nantyffyllon.

The Moel Cynhordy site is based on the mountains between Pontycymer and Maesteg and is known as the location of a World War Two plane crash.

If approved the project known as Glanllynfi Garth Wind Farm could contain up to eight turbines as well as a substation, transformer housing, temporary site offices and overhead line connection with the National Grid.

Once completed the turbines are anticipated to have a height to blade tip of up to 180m, and would be designed with an operational life of 30 years.

A scoping report submitted to Welsh Government said the combined maximum rated output of the site would be up to 37MW of electrical power.

This is equivalent to the domestic needs of approximately 24,716 average households.

It added that if approved the construction period for the wind farm would be expected to last for approximately 24 months.

Access to the site will be through existing access tracks which serve the operational Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm and Llynfi Afan Wind Farm.

A section of the environmental impact assessment scoping report said: “The combined maximum rated output of the site will be up to 37MW of electrical power. The maximum rated output of the development site will be equivalent to the domestic needs of approximately 24,716 average household.

“The wind farm will be designed with an operational life of 30 years. At the end of this period the applicant has three options; to decommission the wind farm and dismantle and remove the turbines; to apply for an extension to the operating period using existing equipment; or apply to install new equipment on the development site.”

While the majority of the land lies within the Bridgend County Borough Council area, if a full application is eventually submitted it will be decided by the Welsh Government as it meets the thresholds to qualify as a Development of National Significance (DNS).