Renewable energy consultancy and service provider Natural Power has secured consent from the Welsh government for a 25MWp onshore wind development.
Natural Power submitted a development of national significance (DNS) on behalf of wholly-owned Welsh developer CENIN Renewables in August 2023. The Welsh government classes generation projects between 10MW and 350MW as nationally significant.
The consented proposal for the development, Manmoel Wind, will see five 5MW wind turbines of 180 metres and an onsite substation built at Manmoel Common in the county boroughs of Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly.
Both Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly Borough Councils were involved in the consenting process. Local Community Councils, local communities and other statutory bodies were also consulted through the DNS consenting process.
Jim Ravey, associate technical director consenting and environmental impact assessor at Natural Power explained: “Four of the five turbines will be located in a pre-assessed area (PAA) where there is a presumption in favour of wind energy development in the Welsh government National Development Framework.”
Manmoel Wind will have an operational life span of 50 years. The development was the third wind farm to be consented through the DNS system since the process was introduced in Wales with the 2015 Welsh Planning Act.
Martyn Popham, who leads CENIN Renewables, said the firm is “delighted” to have received consent.
Ravey added: “This exciting development contributes toward the Welsh government and local authority objectives for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and the declared climate emergency.”
Onshore wind developments in the UK
The announcement comes soon after London-headquartered Cubico Sustainable Investments announced plans for a 100MW onshore wind farm near Manchester.
The wind energy generation plant is the first to be planned in England after the Labour government’s decision to remove the de facto ban on onshore wind shortly after it was elected. Chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced the removal of two tests set out in planning policy, footnotes 57 and 58 to paragraph 163, which had hindered the development of onshore wind farms since its introduction under the Conservative government in 2015.
The Welsh government has committed to meeting all of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2035. To that end, renewable energy development has seen a major uptick recently and Welsh ministers have granted planning permission for an 85MW onshore wind development brought forward by EDF Renewables UK.
