Gwent Council Plans to Partner with German Energy Giant for Wind Turbine Project

NOTE TO EDITORS – no planning documents on this development have been published on the PEDW website yet.
A GWENT council could join forces with a German renewable energy giant to build wind turbines with a maximum height of 200 metres near Abertillery.
RWE say they intend building six wind turbines on land between Abertillery and Abersychan.
The area straddles the local authority boundaries of Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen County Borough Councils, and the planning application will be dealt with by Welsh Government planning inspectors as a Development of National Significance (DNS).
This means it will be processed at Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) and a Welsh Government minister will eventually announce the decision based on a recommendation by planning inspectors.
RWE have also been discussing proposals for part shared ownership with Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council.
The council’s director of regeneration and community services Ellie Fry said, “This is an exciting opportunity for the council which supports our priority to respond to the nature and climate crisis.
“The commercial investment offers an opportunity to deliver wider benefits which will support communities in Blaenau Gwent to thrive.”
RWE’s project manager Oliver Piper said: “This submission is the latest milestone in a project which began in 2020.
“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 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.”
Council planners can feed into the process by producing a Local Impact Report (LIR).
This will be council’s opportunity of feeding into the process, by explaining what they think PEDW should take careful note of when deciding the application.
RWE say that the wind farm has the potential to generate power equivalent to the needs of approximately 50,000 homes and they expect a decision to be made on the application sometime next year. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​