Wales’ largest renewable energy generator has submitted plans to build a six-turbine wind farm with the potential to generate power equivalent to the needs of approximately 50,000 homes on a site around 10 miles north of Newport.
RWE’s proposed Abertillery Wind Farm has a planned capacity of approximately 36 MW with each turbine having a maximum tip height of up to 200m. If approved it will be located between Abertillery and Abersychan, straddling the local authority boundaries of Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen County Borough Councils.
This submission follows extensive consultation with current land users, other nearby residents, local authorities and both statutory consultees and non-statutory stakeholders, with detailed assessments made of the local ecosystem and wildlife, as well as visual, noise and other environmental considerations.
Alongside any future community benefit package, RWE has also been discussing proposals for part shared ownership with Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, which will further benefit the local area.
Oliver Piper, RWE’s Project Manager leading on the development, said: “This submission is the latest milestone in a project which began in 2020 and I would like to thank everyone who has contributed by taking the time to attend our community events and share their thoughts on the proposals.
“Going back to the very first site assessments, our scheme is now informed by years of environmental surveys, covering ecology, ornithology, hydrology, noise, landscape and visual, plus weather measurements, as well as the valuable feedback received during our two consultation periods.
“If approved, the Abertillery Wind Farm and its associated community package will directly benefit the community, support local businesses and supply chains, supporting Wales’ ambition of meeting 100 per cent of our electricity consumption from renewables by 2035.”
Ellie Fry, Corporate Director of Regeneration and Community Services for Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council said, “This is an exciting opportunity for the council which not only supports our priority to respond to the nature and climate crisis, but the commercial investment offers an opportunity to deliver wider benefits which will support communities in Blaenau Gwent to thrive.”
The planning application will be considered by Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), with a final decision by the Welsh Ministers anticipated in 2025.
As the proposed site is almost entirely on registered common land within the Gwastad and Coity and Mynydd James Mountains Common, RWE is also submitting applications for separate consents from the Welsh Ministers to develop on common land. For further information, please visit https://www.rwe.com/abertillery/.
[1] Energy predicted to be generated by the proposal is derived using wind speeds monitored in the local area and correlating to longer term historical weather data using meteorological models seeded with data obtained from satellite, surface based and airborne measurement systems. The equivalent homes supplied figure is based on an annual mean domestic electricity consumption of 3,126 kWh per household in Wales from the latest statistics from Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Subnational Electricity Consumption, Great Britain, 2005-2022, annual mean domestic electricity consumption (kWh per household) for Wales, 2022 (https://bit.ly/3QRaYHv) Regional and local authority electricity consumption statistics (www.gov.uk). Figures are rounded.
