James Evans MS has warned that Wales faces “industrialisation by stealth” with 70 onshore wind farm proposals across Wales, with five proposed in Brecon & Radnorshire.
The list, compiled by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW), includes major schemes at Aberedw, Nant Mithil (Radnor Forest), Bryn Gilwern, Garreg Fawr (Sennybridge/Pontfaen), and Banc y Celyn (Erwood/Upper Chapel), totalling more than 100 turbines locally, each more than 200 metres tall, twice the height of Big Ben.
In an exchange between James and Eluned Morgan MS, the First Minister compared Powys’s potential contribution to net zero targets to South Wales’s historic coal mining industry. James described those comments as “deeply out of touch”, saying they “show how little understanding Ministers have of the pressures already faced by rural communities.”
James Evans MS said:
“I’m not against renewable energy, but what’s happening here isn’t about local, small-scale energy for communities. It’s about turning vast areas of Mid Wales into industrial zones for corporate profit. These 200-metre turbines will scar our hills, threaten wildlife, and devastate tourism.
“To suggest that Powys should ‘do its bit’ like the coalfields of South Wales is offensive and historically ignorant. Mid Wales has already made its contribution through farming, forestry, reservoirs, and a proud mining heritage, and continues to power, feed, and support the nation.
“The Welsh Government talks about a ‘transition’, but there’s nothing small about imposing industrial-scale wind farms on rural Wales without proper infrastructure, consultation, or meaningful community benefit. Our countryside isn’t empty space, it’s our home, and it deserves respect.”
