RWE npower renewables has today (Friday 2 October) made an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate Wales against the failure of The City and County of Swansea Council to notify RWE npower renewables of their decision on the planning application for Mynydd y Gwair Wind Farm.

Jeremy Smith Project Manager for the scheme said: “The application for Mynydd y Gwair Wind Farm was submitted to The City and County of Swansea Council in August 2008 and since that time we have worked closely with the planning officers at the council. Despite our engagement in the process, the council have not made a decision on the application.

“It is regretful that we have had to start an appeal process but after over a year of waiting for a decision we feel it is the only avenue open to us. There has been significant interest in the scheme from local interest groups, both in support and opposition to the scheme, and we are keen to reach a conclusion for all parties involved.

“The decision process remains very open and the council, local interest groups and members of the public will still have an opportunity to represent their views”.

The proposed Mynydd y Gwair Wind Farm would be situated approximately 15 kilometres (9 miles) north of Swansea, South Wales.

The site is within the administrative boundary of The City and County of Swansea. It comprises approximately 473 hectares of grazed moorland owned by the Somerset Trust.

Following a detailed assessment of wind energy potential in South Wales, Mynydd y Gwair was identified as offering one of the best opportunities for providing a substantial contribution to clean energy generation from onshore wind in South Wales.

Mynydd y Gwair has the following key characteristics which help towards the development of a successful wind farm scheme:

• Strong and persistent winds resulting in high electricity generation output from the turbines
• A large land area allowing a wind farm design with good separation distances of around 800 metres (approximately half a mile) from the nearest inhabited properties
• Access to the existing road network, an important consideration during the construction period
• It is outside international and national designations for landscape and ecology
• Close proximity to the electricity distribution system
• Existing land use (grazing) is compatible with the development of a wind farm

The majority of Mynydd y Gwair lies within one of the areas (Area E) identified by the Welsh Assembly Government in its draft Technical Advice Note 8 (TAN 8), considered most suitable at a strategic level for large-scale wind farms.

The proposal would comprise around 19 turbines, each with a capacity of between 2 and 3 megawatts, and measuring up to a height of 127 metres to the tip of the highest blade. It is estimated that the wind farm would have a total installed electrical capacity of between 38 and 57 megawatts.

Taking into account periods of low winds, very high winds and time for maintenance work, the Mynydd y Gwair Wind Farm would generate enough clean electricity each year to supply the average needs of about 28,000 homes¹. This clean electricity would make a significant contribution towards the amount of renewable energy generated in South Wales.

Notes:

1. Energy predicted to be generated by the proposal is derived using wind speeds monitored in the local area and applying trends from npower renewables' existing wind farm portfolio located across the UK. This enables a calculation to be made to estimate the average annual energy production based on 19 turbines each of rated capacity 2.5MW. The energy capture predicted and hence derived homes equivalent or emissions savings figures may change as further information is gathered.

Equivalent homes supplied is based on an annual electricity consumption per home of 4700 kWh, which is derived from a total UK domestic electricity consumption of 117.589 terawatt-hours (TWh) (The Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2005) and 25.2 million UK households (Mid-year Household Estimates published in 2004 by the Office for National Statistics).