Nant Bach Wind Turbine
Installed Capacity
1500 kW
Homes Powered Per Annum
1000
Location
Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, Conwy, North Wales
Nant Bach,
In collaboration with CleanEarth Energy, Gareth led the team to secure planning consent and deliver the first wind turbine at Nant Bach, near Betws-y-Coed in Snowdonia.
When the turbine started generation in early November it was the culmination of nearly two years of planning, project management and good old-fashioned problem-solving. It also followed more than a decade of unsuccessful attempts by other developers to get wind power up and running at Nant Bach.
The site’s remote, mountainous location posed obvious challenges with access, but also made it an ideal spot if a turbine could be erected, as it is blessed with consistently fresh winds year round. Its isolation also added complications to gaining connection to the grid – which was the principle reason for the previous developer abandoning the project.
Before Gareth got involved, the plan had been for an 11 turbine wind farm, for which planning permission had been granted but had subsequently expired when grid connection could not be secured for the anticipated 30 MW output. CleanEarth, started discussions with the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) and managed to secure a connection to the existing 11 kV network. Though slightly less ambitious than the planned wind farm, this still posed some sizeable technical and logistical challenges as well as needing a completely new planning application.
With road access at the opposite end of the site to the grid connection, one or the other was going to need to cross the property of no fewer than five different land-owners. This resulted in building a new 5 km track across the hillside. Opening up the access did more than make this turbine a reality, It also provides benefits for the five owners whose land it traverses, and it should provide opportunities for further wind installations as the north Wales grid gets upgraded in the coming years.
Now that it’s operational, the Nant Bach wind turbine will generate over 4 million kWh per year – enough to power over 1,000 homes. It will also save nearly 2,000 tonnes of carbon each year, equating to 50,000 tonnes over the turbine’s lifetime.
