February 18, 2010
Wales

Meeting against 80 Cambrian Mountains wind turbines

BBC News, bbc.co.uk 18 February 2010

A group opposed to plans to build up to 80 wind turbines near Aberystwyth have staged a protest meeting.

The Cambrian Mountains Society said proposals for a wind farm at Nant y Moch would ruin views from Pumlumon Fawr – the range’s highest peak.

The group, which held its meeting in nearby Talybont on Wednesday evening, wants the area protected.

The company behind the plans has said the turbines would significantly contribute to renewable energy targets.

Following the meeting, BBC Wales’ environment correspondent Iolo ap Dafydd said the Cambrian Mountain Society was keen to establish protection in an area of uplands stretching from Machynlleth in Powys south to Llandovery.

It is calling for the Countryside Council for Wales to secure an area of outstanding natural beauty.

‘Destroy’

Representatives from Scottish and Southern Energy, the company behind the proposals in Nant y Moch, Airtricity, were not at the meeting but the firm is expected to submit a planning application later this year.

It said last year the plans would significantly contribute towards national targets for the provision of renewable energy.

But protestors claimed the wind farm would destroy parts of Ceredigion.

It is understood more than 450 turbines could be built in Powys and Ceredigion alone in coming years.

The Welsh Assembly Government expects 10% of electricity in Wales to come from renewable sources this year.

A report by Powys council in March last year said building work on wind turbines in rural Wales could also cause “significant disruption” because country roads could not cope.

But the assembly government said it was working to develop a “strategic traffic management approach to the movement of these loads”.

Last year, members of the Cambrian Mountains Society held a walk in protest at the plans.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/02/18/meeting-against-80-cambrian-mountains-wind-turbines/