My Story
I live in Llanfach
by... Grace Lloyd-Evans
Grace Lloyd-Evans
I live in Llanfach within a 40 minute walk of the proposed wind turbine installations. I have a PhD in environmental science and in principle am strongly in favour of investment in renewable energy. I attended the consultation at Llanfach Village Hall, but at no time was the size and number of the turbines planned for Mynydd Maen made clear. I am shocked to find that they will be enormous – at 150m, as tall as the largest turbine in England. I am a frequent walker on Mynydd Maen Common and familiar with the fragile and precious peat moorland and the ecosystem it supports.
The footprint of just one of these giant turbines will require a concrete slab the size of a football pitch. Multiply this by the number of turbines actually proposed, and the destruction would be completely unacceptable. We then need to add to this the disruption and destruction of creating access roads and digging up local stone to create these footprints. None of this was made clear in the consultation.
Our peat moorland ecosystems have existed for hundreds, if not thousands of years, acting as a carbon sink. The planet needs them more now than ever before. I understand that adequate offshore wind generation is planned to support Wales’ needs, and a large proportion of energy generated at the proposed Mynydd Maen development would go to providing energy to England. I believe Wales has more than played its part in shouldering environmental destruction for the benefit of others, and it is time for others to share the burden. Offshore wind generation is not without its problems, but is surely preferable to tearing up our precious peat moorlands.