CARREG WEN in Rhondda Cynon Taf is the location for one of three new wind farms being planned by the Welsh Government with the others set to be placed in Carmarthenshire and Denbighshire/Conwy.
At Carreg Wen, 18 wind turbines are proposed, with the electricity generated being the equivalent needed for 96,000 homes.
Officials have also said that grid connections are possible at the site in RCT.
We went to speak to residents in Maerdy in the Rhondda Fach and Cwmaman in the Cynon Valley, two places which are close to where the turbines are planned to be built, to get their reactions to the plans.
Ernie Travers, from Maerdy, said: “I wouldn’t like it. It’s a bit close isn’t it?”
He added: “They just turn up and they think they can do it. It could be in some less intrusive place.”
He said they wanted to put solar farms where he used to live and it took a lot of hard work to stop that.
He also said that no-one mentioned the non-green power needed to manufacture things like wind turbines and solar panels.
And he said you could hear a buzz when you were near them, saying: “They do make a noise.”
Colin Marsh, from Maerdy, said: “We’ve got to have power haven’t we? It’s hard to please everybody. We have got to have power from somewhere.”
But he said it should not be too near to people’s houses.
“A lot of people I know don’t like them. Wherever you look there is a windmill.”
He said one or two didn’t look too bad, but when he was walking up to Llanwonno a few years ago he thought, “how many have they put up?”
He said: “It was like a forest of them up there.”
But he also raised the prospect of cheaper energy bills for the community.
He said: “They know how much they are sending to the national grid” and that they could knock a couple of pounds of people’s bills in RCT.
Pauline Thomas, from Maerdy, said: “If the local community can have money from it, fair enough. Like we have done for the last few years.
“If we have that money, if we benefit from it who are we to moan?”
Gayle Griffiths, from Maerdy, said: “They are ugly. There is enough of them up there now. They are an eyesore on the landscape.”
She said they gave to local charities now and again but that normal people didn’t get a reduction in their energy bills.
But Terry Hartnoll, of Cwmaman, was very much in favour of wind farms and stressed the benefits of cheap electricity.
He said: “I’m all in favour of it. I like my electricity cheap. I know what hurts the world and I know what is good for it.”
He said they were going to have to keep nuclear power for days when there was no wind and when it was dark and as a mountain biker he said there seemed to be more turbines up there every time he went up.
He said: “How can you be negative about it unless it is on your doorstep?” We’ve got to have it.”
Allan Jones, also from Cwmaman, said: “I have nothing against it if it leads to cheaper, greener energy.”
“It’s cleaner, more economical. I am all for it. I don’t see why people are moaning and groaning. I don’t see any problem.”
“If they are in your back garden you can complain but not on top of the mountain.”
Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru intends to create 650 construction jobs through the project with the three new wind farms having the potential to generate enough electricity to power 350,000 Welsh homes’ annual average electricity needs.
Constructing the sites will cost around £500m and in total 67, 6MW wind turbines will be built across the three sites, if approved, with the turbines expected to be around 200m tall.
Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru, which is wholly owned by the Welsh Government, aims to develop 1GW of new renewable energy generation capacity on Welsh public land by 2040.
The wind farms will be built on the Welsh Government’s woodland estate and the Welsh Government’s plan is to generate enough renewable electricity to meet 70% of what’s used in Wales by 2030, rising to 100% by 2035.
The plan is for consultation events to take place before planning permission is submitted by mid-2027.
Construction, if planning permission is granted, will likely begin in the early 2030s, with energy likely to be generated from 2035.
