January 19, 2011
Wales

Protesters to scrutinise wind firm’s paperwork

By Graeme Wilkinson, www.thisissouthwales.co.uk 19 January 2011

Campaigners fighting a wind farm in north east of Carmarthenshire have begun the painstaking job of sifting through the developer’s paperwork.

Members of the Friends of Mynydd Llanllwni action group are scrutinising environmental reports for 21 proposed wind turbines on the high ground behind their village.

Chairman of the group, John Jones, said: “It’s a long process and we’re trying to go through everything and see legal reasons why it shouldn’t go ahead.”

The wind farm company Renewable Energy Systems has submitted a planning application to Carmarthenshire Council and the public consultation period closes on February 23.

Mr Jones added: “We object to having this wind farm on this common land. It’s the last part of wild land in Carmarthenshire.

“It may not be the prettiest of mountains but it has always been like that since neolithic times.” RES project manager David Cox said the area has been under consideration for a number of years, adding: “We are confident that this is a very good site for a wind farm that will be a real asset to the area.”

There are plans for two other wind farms proposed for the area, from a separate company called Rwe Npower Renewables Ltd.

Development

It wants to build 28 turbines east of Alltwalis, known as Brechfa Forest West, and a separate 12 turbines north of Abergorlech, called Brechfa Forest East.

The company submitted a planning application for Brechfa East this month to Carmarthenshire Council.

As the Brechfa West development is so big, it will be decided by the new Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) instead, which deals with major energy projects such as power stations. This application is expected later this year.

Full consultation on Brechfa West is also expected to begin soon. Project officer Bethan Thomas said: “The consultation exercise we’re proposing will last for 56 days, longer than a standard consultation period, and will come at a stage when feedback can most help us improve our proposals. We are looking forward to continuing to work with the local community.”

Opposing all three applications is the group known as Brechfa Forest Energy Action Group, including campaigner Caroline Evans from Gwernogle.

It was originally set up to fight the 10 Alltwalis turbines, which became operational last year.

She said: “Wind turbines are completely inefficient and a waste of taxpayers money.

“The whole area is threatened and it complicates things with three different applications and different processes.” She added that anyone wishing to make complaints to the IPC, for example, must first register as an objector – a different procedure to objecting to applications handled by the county council.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/01/19/protesters-to-scrutinise-wind-firms-paperwork/