Letters

Letters to the Directors of the Dyfi Biosphere*

Impact of Wind Farm Proposals on the Dyfi Biosphere

We are writing to ensure that those responsible for the Dyfi Biosphere are fully aware of the scale and scope of wind farm proposals on and at the borders of the UNESCO listed Biosphere.

Currently, there are five proposals for large-scale wind farms around the biosphere:

Waun Hesgog 37 turbines at 220 metres above Talybont and Artists’ Valley

Esgair Galed 26 turbines at 220 metres on the Glaslyn Uplands and Hafren Forest

Esgair Du 13 turbines at 230 metres above Cwm Llinau on the hills above the Dyfi River

Carnedd Wen 28 turbines at 200 metres northwest of Llanbrynmair

Llanbrynmair 15 turbines at 230 metres just south of Carnedd Wen, close to Llanbrynmair. (See map above for locations.)

If these developments went ahead, the land surrounding the Dyfi and its catchment area would be irreversibly degraded. The uplands would be dominated by 119 turbines at heights of 200 to 230 metres. Each of these would be at least double the height of any turbines currently operating in Wales.

A 220-meter wind turbine requires between 600 and 800 cubic metres of concrete for its foundation, weighing around 2,000 tonnes. The base requires between 100 and 165 tonnes of steel rebar. Clearly, developments of this size would have a devastating impact on the peat bogs and fragile hydrology of the uplands. Wildlife would be squeezed out of habitats that are already rare.

Huge components would have to be transported to the sites, including 80 metre turbine blades. Rural roads would have to be widened, leading to the destruction of hedgerows and trees. New roads and wide tracks would have to be build up hillsides and across the uplands.

Waun Hesgog, located in the wild land above Talybont and towards Artists Valley, is on land that feeds the Dyfi basin and drains into Cors Fochno. The hydrology of this area is particularly sensitive as Talybont has suffered serious flooding in recent years.

Esgair Galed would be sited on the Glaslyn and Hafren Uplands, with turbines at the boundary of the Glaslyn Nature Reserve and adjacent to the Mountain Road from Machynlleth to Staylittle. The Dyfi Biosphere buffer zone area at Ceunant Twymyn would certainly be affected by massive construction work in the hills above it.

Another proposed development, Lluest y Gwynt, with 12 turbines at 180 metres, west of Pumlumon could also have a negative impact on the water sources that flow into the Dyfi and the Nant-y-moch and Llyn Llygad Rheidol reservoirs.

Carno III has planning approval for 13 turbines 149 metres high. Water from this upland area drains into the Twymyn along the Pennant Valley towards Llanbrynmair.

We note that UNESCO Biospheres are described as ‘learning places for sustainable development’ and that their primary function is to conserve and protect wildlife, habitats and the environment. The current wind farm proposals in Mid Wales would degrade and industrialise huge areas of the uplands and valleys. We therefore call upon the Directors to robustly defend the land and its heritage.

With best wishes,

for Wild Wales Trust (sent 5th March 2026)

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Second letter, sent 10th March:

‘We are encouraged to hear that the plans for wind turbines will be discussed at your meeting on Thursday.

It’s important to understand that the proposed developments don’t just involve giant turbines: wide tracks through the peat bogs, trenches for the cables, electricity substations and pylons to carry the power would also be required. This would involve a huge disruption to the land and the entire natural habitat. Below, we include a link to a website together with some photos that document the construction and impact of the Viking Wind Farm on the Shetland Isles—and the turbines there are 150 metres tall, so substantially lower than those proposed for Mid Wales!

We are not optimistic about the possibility of a ‘respectful debate’ with the developers because their position is that the land is primarily a resource to be used and exploited as fuel for humans. And, of course, to make developers wealthy. But using up our last open, natural spaces would surely create an increasingly sick, overcrowded and claustrophobic society.

The land and ancient monuments of Wales are a heritage that need to be protected.

Best wishes,

For Wild Wales Trust

https://www.landscapeinpain.uk’

https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/.../mid-wales-would-be...

*https://www.dyfibiosphere.wales/

Letter to the Directors, Bute Energy

OPEN SPACES VERSUS INDUSTRY: Another look at the proposed industrialisation of the heartland of Wales

The blue lines on this map show the road network across England and Wales. This reveals the last remaining scraps of open land that offer freedom to be for wild life and persons in predominantly natural spaces, where the air is clean and free from the desperation of developers and industrialisers. Beyond them, Britain helplessly strangles itself.

Your plans—and those of the many other companies involved in ‘development’— threaten environmentally sensitive landscapes which provide a small, diminishing refuge for endangered wildlife and flora. Surely you are aware that there are very few undeveloped spaces left in heavily overcrowded Britain, spaces where the activities and anxieties of modern man do not dominate? These spaces need to be protected and preserved because their loss would result in a hellish, claustrophobic nightmare, ruled by complex infrastructure and a virtual, digital reality. Lives and jobs would be limited to maintaining this massive energy consuming network, dedicated to serving the production of more unhappy, frantic people to swell the numbers in already disgracefully overcrowded Britain.

Surely there has got to be some stage when the absurdity of this mad ‘development’ idea gets through to the essential suppressed wisdom that lies beneath the commercial preoccupation with gain and self-importance? Incidentally, ‘develop’ means to ‘open up,’ so it is not quite the right word for projects concerned with closing down natural habitats and filling them in with industrial wastelands.

Consider: if the giant wind factories with pylons and wide access roads were to materialise in the uplands and valleys of Wales, the land and landscape would be ruined forever. A brief look at the human record shows that clearing up after industrialisation gets postponed indefinitely—regardless of promises and obligations. The steel, concrete, discarded machinery and pollution would be a permanent blight.

Why continue to argue for a totally unrealistic fantasy about a clean, green technological future when wind is demonstrably unreliable? The fantasy is now under critical review. In the Spring, elections are due in Wales and a change of government is extremely likely and hoped for by most in Wales. In all probability, giant wind turbine developments will not be favoured. Would it not, therefore, be a sensible move to back off and find a more modest, less divisive way of making a living and providing employment?

BACK OFF, BUTE!

SALLY and JASMINE GEORGE

For Wild Wales Trust

Letter to Eluned Morgan, First Minister October 2025

Wind Turbines, the Heart of Wales and Socialism

In your recent exchange with James Evans in the Senedd on the subject of onshore wind turbines, you stated that Powys should make a ‘contribution’ to the Labour Government’s net zero policy that would in some way be positively comparable to the historical development of the coal mining industry in South Wales.

Apparently, you tend to be of the opinion that the landscape of Mid Wales should be industrialised because it hasn’t contributed adequately to the nation’s economy and still has plenty of uncontaminated, open uplands and valleys available for exploitation for the benefit of the people.

You may be overlooking the fact that Mid Wales also has a rich mining history. Throughout the region, there have been many productive mines, particularly for lead, copper, silver and even gold. These mines operated for many centuries, with yields peaking in the 19th and early 20th centuries and their leavings have a small tourist following.

Mid Wales has also given huge tranches of land for reservoirs, including Lake Vyrnwy (where my ancestors watched as the old village, church, graveyard and farms were flooded), Llyn Clywedog, the Elan Valley and Llyn Nantymoch. These reservoirs ensure a constant supply of Welsh water to many towns and cities in the UK.

Plantations cover many of the hills in Mid Wales. They purify and balance the planet’s atmosphere and produce timber for industries.

However much electricity is produced, we still need food. A great deal is produced by the hard work of the Mid Wales farmers. Their husbandry of unindustrialised land should not be undervalued.

So, Mid Wales cannot really be accused of slacking. In addition, its uplands provide a refuge for wildlife, rare peatlands and a much needed breathing space for humans on this busy, overcrowded island.

Your underrating of the area is particularly strange since you are one of the Senedd representatives for Mid and West Wales yet you are not often seen or heard from in the area.

Mid Wales already has a large number of wind turbines that unquestionably blight the hills. The latest proposals* are for turbines twice as high as the existing ones, which would necessitate a huge amount of infrastructure, including new roads and pylons through the valleys. The problem with such industrial-scale developments is that such would severely diminish, devastate and destroy the landscape, character and relative tranquility of Mid Wales. The energy supplied would always be intermittent and unreliable. Therefore, unlike commodities such as coal, metal, water, timber, and food, they would demand a huge area of land for a dubious return in terms of energy output. At the end of their working ‘life’ we would doubtless find that despite developers’ promises and down payments, there would be a great deal of reluctance to deindustrialise the ruined areas. Removal of the huge areas of concrete would of course be entirely ‘another matter!’

We are aware of the very large sums of money involved in these projects and also of inducements offered to farmers and perhaps to some government officials. There is also the important matter of constraint payments to the operators when the wind is down and the turbines are unproductive. These can amount to large sums of money. Where does that money come from?

It seems to us that the Labour Governments work primarily on the basis of socialist ideology and so, as we observe in the present case, are out of touch with the realities of the land and indeed the people of rural Mid Wales. Labour ideology is fundamentally urban and focuses on acquiring control of resources, which it can then of course meter out to the population at large. We strongly advise a broader, wiser, kinder, more sympathetic understanding of the balance relating to population increase and consequent heavier demand upon resources. We optimistically trust that it will eventually be forthcoming.

MINNIE WYLDE

For WILD WALES TRUST

*Below is a list of the current proposals for wind turbines in Wales, compiled by CPRW. No wonder Powys County Councillors voted unanimously to pause applications:

Aberedw Energy Park

Abertillery wind farm

Alwen Forest wind farm

Banc Du Energy Park

Banc y Celyn energy park

Brechfa North wind farm

Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park

Bryn Gilwern Energy Park

Bryn Rhudd Energy Park

Bryngydfa wind farm

Calon y Gwynt Energy Park

Carnedd Wen wind farm

Carreg Wen Wind Farm

Clocaenog Dau Wind Farm

Convatec Green Manufacturing Hub

Craig y Geifr wind farm

Dragon Energy Park

Esgair Cwmowen wind farm

Esgair Ddu Energy Park

Esgair Galed Energy Park

Foel Fach Wind Farm

Foel Trawsnant wind farm

Gaerwen wind farm

Garn Fach wind farm (approved)

Garreg Fawr Energy Park

Glyn Cothi Wind Farm

Hirfynydd Renewable Energy Park

Lan Fawr Energy Park

Llanbrynmair wind farm

Llanwonno Energy Project

Lluest Y Gwynt wind farm

Llyn Lort Energy Park

Manmoel wind farm

Melin Court wind farm

Moel Chwa Energy Park

Mynydd Bedwellte wind farm

Mynydd Carn-y-Cefn wind farm

Mynydd Fforch-Dwm wind farm

Mynydd Llanhilleth wind farm

Mynydd Lluest y Graig wind farm

Mynydd Maen wind farm

Mynydd Mawr Energy Park

Mynydd Ty-talwyn Energy Park

Mynydd y Gaer wind farm

Mynydd y Glyn wind farm

Nant Ceiment Energy Park

Nant Mithil Energy Park

Newhouse Farm wind turbines

Pant y Mean wind farm

Rhiwlas Energy Park

Rhyswg wind farm

Trecelyn wind farm

Trecwn Green Energy Hub

Twyn Hywel Energy Park (approved)

Upper Lliw Energy wind farm

Upper Ogmore wind farm (approved)

Waun Hesgog Energy Park

Waun Maenllwyd wind farm

Y Bryn wind farm

Blaencothi Energy Park

Bryn Glas Energy Park

Bryngwyn Energy Park

Maesnant Energy Park

Mwdwl Eithin Energy

Nant Aman Energy

Nant y Maen

Orddu Energy Park

Tarenni Energy Park

Llyn Lort II

Derwydd Bach

(See map)

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