WHAT ARE WE PROPOSING?​

We are at a very early stage of developing our plans. We will hold a public consultation in autumn this year and plan to undertake the statutory, pre-application consultation in spring next year. During the consultations, we will update the website with our plans, send information to households near to the site and hold public exhibitions for you to meet the project team, learn more and provide feedback.

We welcome feedback and queries at any time. Please visit the GET IN TOUCH page to contact the project team.

We have been undertaking initial surveys and assessments to inform our Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). We will share more information during the public consultation phase later this year and the draft EIA will be presented during the pre-application consultation.

Our early plans include:

Careful consideration of the potential impact of the project on the landscape. A maximum blade tip height of 220m is being considered, however the final height and specification of each turbine will be determined as the design process progresses and may be varied to create a visually cohesive design.

As the site is partially located on common land, a secondary consent application will be made for Common Land Consent under the Commons Act 2016. The application will propose replacement land in exchange for land used by the development.

We are gathering data about the species and habitats onsite through our ecology and ornithology surveys. We will develop a Habitat Management Plan detailing how we will look after the species and habitats onsite during construction and operation of the wind farm. Foel Fach Wind Farm will deliver a Net Benefit for Biodiversity over the lifetime of the project, enhancing the biodiversity onsite.

Our hydrology and hydrogeology surveys will assess watercourses onsite and identify areas of peat onsite.

We will work with heritage experts to survey the area and identify assets within and surrounding the site.

Access to the site is expected to be from the west along the A4212/B4501. A Construction Traffic Management Plan (CTMP) will propose measures to control the delivery of materials and staff onto the site during the construction phase.

The existing Public Rights of Way on the site will be retained as far as possible, enabling users to continue to enjoy the area.

The connection from Foel Fach Wind Farm to the National Grid will form a separate planning application.

We are committed to offering an industry leading Community Benefit Fund of £8,000 per MW per year for the operational lifetime of Foel Fach Wind Farm (up to 40 years). We will work with the community to explore ways to ensure that this fund is appropriately set up so that it meets local needs, can be easily accessed, and is delivered in a straightforward way. We welcome your thoughts on how this can be developed to ensure as much local benefit as possible.

Foel Fach Wind Farm will support the Welsh Government’s target for 1.5 GW of renewable energy generation to have local and shared ownership by 2035.

We are proud to be working in partnership with Ripple Energy with the aim to develop a first-of-a-kind community ownership model. Local residents, businesses and community groups would be able to buy shares in the wind farm and receive savings on their electricity bills throughout the operational lifetime of the wind farm. Further details on the opportunity will be presented as our proposals evolve.

We are keen to ensure that wherever possible, the local supply chain helps us deliver the services we need for this project. We will be reaching out to the local business community later this year and will provide further information on supply chain and economic investment opportunities in future updates.

If you are a local business interested in being a potential supplier to us, please complete the Get in Touch form and tick the box to say you are interested in supply chain.

If you have any thoughts on additional benefits Foel Fach Wind Farm could deliver, please let us know.

The area is good for onshore wind – it’s in a westerly, hilly part of Wales; it is very windy, remote, and has relatively good access. The Welsh Government strongly supports the development of large scale renewable and low carbon energy to meet our future energy needs. In determining planning applications for renewable energy developments, decision‑makers must give significant weight to the need to meet Wales’ international commitments and the target to generate 70% of consumed electricity by renewable means by 2030 (rising to 100% by 2035) in order to combat the climate emergency.

We need to be installing a range of renewable and low carbon technologies in order to tackle the climate emergency and secure stable energy supplies across the UK. This includes onshore wind, offshore wind, solar, battery (storage), tidal and more. Onshore wind has many advantages – it is one of the cheapest forms of energy generation and is relatively straightforward to install. Onshore wind is now considered a mature technology, tried and tested, and has achieved significant technical advances that have improved efficiency, reduced noise, and lowered costs.

More onshore wind will lower electricity bills by reducing our reliance on imported gas, the price of which is determined internationally and is volatile as a result of, for example, the war in Ukraine.

Our Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment will carefully consider the potential visual impact of the proposal from different areas. We want to construct turbines up to 220 metres in height to blade tip. Using larger turbines means that more renewable energy can be generated by each turbine, which reduces the number of turbines required for the same amount of energy.

We will undertake a cumulative impact assessment of the proposed development in relation to existing and other approved wind farms in the area. When the Planning Inspector is considering the planning application, the potential cumulative impact is one of many material considerations.

The electricity generated at Foel Fach Wind Farm would go the National Grid which transmits electricity across all of the UK. Electricity from Foel Fach could be consumed locally or in other parts of the UK – depending on where the demand is.

The connection from Foel Fach Wind Farm to the National Grid will form a separate planning application.

We are working in partnership with Ripple Energy to develop a first-of-a-kind, innovative community ownership model, where local residents, businesses and community groups would be able to buy shares in the wind farm and receive a return in the form of savings on their electricity bills.

Support for renewable energy developments is widespread in the local area. A RenewableUK survey conducted in 2022 found that 74% of respondents in Dwyfor Meirionnydd support onshore wind energy generation, whilst the latest DESNZ public attitudes tracker survey Spring 2024 finds 78% of people across the UK support onshore wind developments.

The closest turbine on our indicative layout is 1.9 km from the Eryri National Park boundary. Developments are not prohibited in the area however our Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment will carefully assess potential views from the national park and consider any potential impact on its International Dark Skies status. Eryri National Park Authority is an important statutory consultee.

The amount of electricity produced by wind turbines will vary depending on the level of wind. Our proposal includes onsite battery energy storage which will store energy during periods of high generation and release it to the grid when production is lower.

Electricity consumption in Wales is projected to nearly triple by 2050 due to the electrification of heat and transport. Having an energy mix of different energy generation methods will help to ensure that there is a consistent supply of electricity to meet rising demand.

As we develop our proposal, we will undertake a wide range of ecological and ornithological surveys within and surrounding the site. We will set out measures we would implement during the construction period (in a Construction Environmental Management Plan) and over the operational lifetime of the wind farm (in a Habitat Management Plan) to look after and improve the nature on the site and achieve an overall Net Benefit for Biodiversity.

We have undertaken an initial peat depth survey to assess the presence of peat across the site. Further studies will focus on peat depth in areas where infrastructure is proposed, which will enable us to reduce potential impacts on these areas in our design for the site layout wherever possible.

The majority of the land within the site is Countryside and Rights of Way Open Access land, and a number of Public Rights of Way (PRoWs) are present within and adjacent to the site. Our indicative turbine layout aims to avoid siting infrastructure close to PRoWs where possible. We expect disruption to users of PRoWs to be minimised and where closures are required, they are likely to be short term and temporary. Any such changes to PRoWs will be agreed in consultation with the Gwynedd Council Public Rights of Way Officer in order to try and ensure suitable diversions or replacements are in place.

The site is partially located on common land, and a secondary consent application will be made for Common Land Consent under the Commons Act. The application will propose replacement land in exchange for land used by the proposed development. There would be no overall loss of common land as a result of the wind farm. We will work closely with those who use their grazing rights on the common to ensure that their business interests are not compromised.

We are considering a number of different route options for component delivery and construction access to the site. The site entrance will be located at the west of the site from the B4501. We will agree a Construction Traffic Management Plan with the local highways authorities which will propose measures to control the delivery of materials and staff onto the site during the construction phase.

There is inconclusive evidence to indicate that wind farms have an adverse impact on tourism. A 2014 report for the Welsh Government by Regeneris Consulting and The Tourism Company[1] concluded that the effect on tourism from wind farm developments is very limited, with case studies revealing no evidence of significant impacts on tourism. The study also revealed that visitors to areas with wind farms had either a positive or neutral view about wind farm developments.

[1] Regeneris and The Tourism Company. ‘Study into the Potential Economic Impact of Wind Farms and Associated Grid Infrastructure on the Welsh Tourism Sector’ (2014)

There is little recent UK based research in this area and existing studies show inconclusive evidence of wind farms affecting local house prices. A 2016 study by climateXchange on the impact of wind turbines on house prices in Scotland[2] found no evidence of a consistent negative effect on house prices.

[2] climateXchange. ‘Impact of wind turbines on house prices in Scotland’ (2016)

Our proposals anticipate Foel Fach Wind Farm would have an operational lifespan of up to 40 years. At present, as much as 90% of a wind turbine can be readily recycled, due to the fact that its main component is steel. It is possible to recycle the remaining 10%, which generally relate to parts of the blades, and whilst this is not currently widespread, we anticipate that by the time that Foel Fach Wind Farm is decommissioned, technological advancements will mean that it will be possible to recycle 100% of the turbine components.