Those living in a ‘paradise’ fear impact of new national wind farm

‘A SIGN on the edge of Abergorlech declares it was the best kept village in Carmarthenshire for four years between 1964 and 1970, a time when the vast majority of the UK’s electricity was generated by burning coal.

- RICHARD YOULE

‘Abergorlech, by Brechfa Forest, still looks a picture - resident Patrick Brotherton described it as “a paradise” - but when it comes to electricity the times they are a-changin; as Bob Dylan sang in his 1964 album of that name.

‘A privately-owned wind farm operates on the western side of Brechfa Forest, which is popular with walkers, horse riders and mountain bikers, and now 27 turbines have been proposed by a publicly-owned company in Wales, Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru.

A map indicating where this new Glyn Cothi wind farm would be located shows the majority of the turbines in the central and eastern section of the Welsh Government-owned woodland in the hills above Abergorlech.

There is also a wind farm, Alltwalis, on land west of Brechfa Forest.

Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru announced plans early in July for three state-backed wind farms in Wales, and talking to people in Abergorlech and nearby Brechfa about the Glyn Cothi one, views are mixed.

The Reverend Canon Delyth Wilson, of Abergorlech, said: “We seem to be bombarded in this beautiful part of Wales by these turbines. I am keen that we are more sustainable, but these things are going to be really high. I don’t think that we will see them, but I don’t know if we will hear them.

“And how are they are they going to get them here on these tiny roads? That is perhaps my main concern.”

Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru is proposing to run a wire from the wind farm on wooden poles to a new substation planned near Llandyfaelog, between Carmarthen and Kidwelly, and Mrs Wilson wondered if the route would follow the Cothi Valley. “The Cothi Valley is a gem,’ she said.

When Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru was launched last summer, Economy Secretary Jeremy Miles said it would generate significant returns for people in Wales - energy projects have often led to profits going to foreign companies.