From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

Delyth Keating. Source BBC, Fair Use, Low Resolution Image to Identify the Target

“… we’re being used as a dumping ground for our neighbours’ energy needs …”

Climate change: Y Bryn wind farm aids net zero aim – developer

By Garry Owen
BBC News

A new onshore wind farm could help Wales move towards its net zero target by 2050, say developers.

But some local people called the Y Bryn plan between Port Talbot and Maesteg a “blight on the landscape”.

…

Campaigner Phil Morgan said: “My daughter is fifth generation here. 

“It’s a healthy place, I spend a lot of time walking and foraging in this area and it would be a shame to see it basically clear felled and dug up for these follies, these white elephants.”

Rhodri Williams, who is part of the local residents’ action group, said the area was already making a contribution towards the net zero target.

“We have more than our fair share of wind farms around this area,” he said.

“They should be looking at offshore because that’s where the greatest potential is and offshore turbine can produce twice as much energy as an onshore turbine. 

“It’s a quick fix here and we’re being used as a dumping ground for our neighbours’ energy needs.”

Another resident, Delyth Keating, said she was concerned that the turbines would have an impact on a growing tourism industry.

“We’re a world mountain bike area – they come from far and wide,” she said. 

“People actually travel here and stay in the local area. If we haven’t got access to the mountain, which we will be denied access to during building, people are just going to stop coming here and find somewhere else to go, so local business will lose out.”

…Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-65902606

Wales has some of the most scenic countryside in Britain, and makes significant income from tourists visiting to walk their many trails and mountains. And my personal experience, the Welsh feel a strong connection to their countryside, a tradition stretching back to before the Roman Empire. The hills, mountains and streams of Wales are part of the nation’s soul.

Blighting the countryside with large mechanical monstrosities probably won’t help attract more visitors, nor will it bring peace to the troubled hearts of the Welsh people.

Wales used to have two nuclear reactors, which between them used to produce significant amounts of zero carbon electricity from a much smaller footprint than all the wind farms the government wants to build. But both reactors were shut down, and have not been replaced.