Carmarthenshire Residents Action Group (CRAiG Sir Gâr) has condemned yet another windfarm proposal – Bute Energy’s Nant Ceiment – as another assault on Carmarthenshire’s countryside.
Following the announcement of the proposed 162 MW Glyn Cothi Wind Farm last week Bute’s Nant Ceiment is an 85.8MW project consisting of a further massive set of wind turbines.
These form a growing series of major wind, solar and pylon projects all slated for the rural county. With pylons and access roads carving their way through Carmarthenshire’s scenic and historic valleys.
Thousands of tonnes of concrete and steel will be needed to build the foundations for these turbines. This will indelibly scar the landscape, wreck communities and sound the death knell for many tourism businesses. All while energy bills soar to pay for the cost of the infrastructure extracting the power and destroying the Welsh countryside.
Havard Hughes, Spokesman for CRAiG Sir Gâr commented:
“This latest announcement demonstrates that we risk our Garden of Wales to a web of concrete and steel. Carmarthenshire risks becoming Wales’ Net Zero sacrifice zone with turbines on every hill, panels on every field and pylons in every valley. The work of concreting over our countryside has been made far easier as Carmarthenshire County Council’s removal of all of the County’s 18 Special Landscape Areas.
As with the proposals for Glyn Cothi, Bute Energy’s Nant Ceiment windfarm is a another utterly predictable industrialisation. Welsh Government has designated a third of Carmarthenshire as an industrial wind zone in Future Wales 2040. This means open season for developers to construct turbines hundreds of feet high with aircraft warning lights blazing day and night. The dark skies of the north Carmaarthenshire will be gone forever, replaced by a permanent NetZero glow.
Before future generations ask “how grey was my valley”, there needs to be a moratorium on piecemeal renewables development in the Carmarthenshire countryside. The culminative effect of Nant Ceiment, Glyn Cothi, Bute Pylons and Galileo schemes, to name but four, needs to be viewed in the round. There has to be public consent for this level of change and disruption to residents’ lives.