16/03/13 Alltwalis Wind Farm v Weather Radar

We've just had some heavy falls of snow here in West Wales. This snow was not forecast or reported in BBC weather reports. Who says that the Alltwalis wind farm is not interfering with the local weather radar 10 miles away?

16/03/13 Arguments against RES appeal

Basis for a Rejecting an Appeal

1)The Tan 8 process was not widely consulted - only one meeting in Carmarthen.

2)There was totally inadequate research carried out about by the Welsh Assembly Government on the impact of wind farm policy -  the only research done was concerned about the amount of wind.

3)Because of the distance from the National Grid at Swansea, there would be considerable transmission loss of energy available of up to 10% from an already inefficient and unreliable provider.

 

4)Wind farms cannot be considered independently of power station back up. Since most coal fired power stations will close in the next couple of years it is against the national interest to rely on such an intermittent source of energy.

5)Wind farms require huge subsidies which would be better spent  on reliable sources such tidal barriers. The more wind farms built, the higher fuel bills will rise to fund the subsidy causing an increase in fuel poverty.

6)There is an ever increasing amount of peer reviewed research on turbine noise from all over the world showing an impact on human health.

7)There is a currently a public inquiry looking at the ETSU process which determines sound levels and much of the evidence given to the inquiry talks about ETSU shortcomings. The original committee was made up of interested professionals who dismissed the impact of low frequency sound and did not consult other professionals e.g. health experts.

8)There was bias in calculating  background  sound levels for this application. The results of monitoring at chosen sites did not present representative samples which could be used to provide an adequate  forecast of the ambient noise and therefore the sound impact on all the other local properties.

9)Acoustics 'experts' had a vested interest in more wind farms being provided as the policy supplies a good income for all their talk of best practice (defined by themselves).

10)The Prime Minister has talked about the importance of considering local opinion. If this opinion is to be dismissed out of hand then the whole process is a farce.

 In conclusion, the number of extra wind farms being proposed for this one area would place an unacceptable burden on local residents and have a dramatic negative effect on their human rights.

Tues. March 12th Devastating News

The Secretary of State for Energy has granted planning permission for RWE to build a wind farm of 28 giant turbines at Brechfa Forest West, alongside the existing 10 turbine wind farm at Alltwalis. Of course we could not expect Whitehall to show any compassion for the interests of local people here in Wales. The real villain in this tragedy is the Welsh Government which identified a large area of the Llanllwni mountain as ripe for any old carpet bagger to come and take advantage,  making large sums of money at our expense. The worst of it is, we still face the threat of wind farms number 3 and 4 here, which are currently in the planning process. Should these extra wind farms go ahead, we would be faced with a total of 70 giant structures turning an unspoiled tranquil area  of countryside into an industrial zone. It seems that government has selected us for special treatment and clearly don't care about the impact on our lives. The only thing that matters to these politicians is their green image because any rational assessment of wind energy would not consider using a flawed technology which is inefficient and unreliable. Never mind the effect of turbine sound on local people's health and on the value of their property; these developments require huge subsidies which lead to an increase in fuel poverty and the need for conventional power stations to be on permanent stand-by when there is to little or too much wind.

04/03/13 Weather Radar

Farmers in Wales are dependent on accurate weather forecasts to enable good planning of their day to day activities. It is therefore worrying to hear that the practical function of the Met. Office weather radar at Crug-Y-Gorllwyn is experiencing problems due to clutter caused by the existing wind farm at Alltwalis . This radar station, which is 10 miles West of the wind farm, provides a detailed daily record of the present conditions and is an important element of accurate forecasting for South West Wales.

It appears that the Met. Office was unaware of the proposed 2 much larger wind farm developments at Brechfa West and Bryn Llywelyn and has just raised strong objections on this matter. It will be interesting to see if, at this very late stage in the planning process, the DECC minister in Whitehall can be influenced in his decision about whether or not to give permission for Brechfa West to go ahead. Presumably the Government Inspector who ran the planning process was responsible for not consulting the Met. Office and therefore a degree of flexibility can be used.  Hopefully, with regard to the Bryn Llywelyn application, the matter can be raised without too much trouble at the appeal proceedings later this year.