“Greed energy, not green energy”: Carmarthenshire communities fight back against wave of energy park and pylon plans
The people of north Carmarthenshire say they are staring down an unprecedented transformation of their countryside — one that could leave turbines on every hill, pylons in every valley, and centuries of heritage carved up by access roads and quarries.
At a packed meeting in Pumsaint earlier this month, more than a hundred residents crammed into the Coronation Hall to hear what campaigners describe as the “industrialisation” of rural Wales. The gathering, organised by the Carmarthenshire Residents Action Group (CRAiG Sir Gâr), was called to rally opposition to a series of vast energy projects now on the table.
The mood was one of anger and disbelief. Speaker after speaker warned that the county — long branded the “Garden of Wales” — was being turned into what one campaigner called a “Net Zero sacrifice zone.”
Audience at Pumsaint’s CRAiG meeting
(Image: CRAiG)A county under siege
The proposals are staggering in scale. In Brechfa Forest, the Welsh Government‑owned company Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru is planning the Glyn Cothi wind farm, with 27 turbines towering above the treeline. To the north, Galileo’s Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park would see 25 turbines straddling the Carmarthenshire–Ceredigion border. Bute Energy’s Nant Ceiment project, just south of Lampeter, adds another 13 turbines to the mix.
Alongside them come two major pylon routes from Green GEN Cymru, designed to carry electricity across the Towy Valley and into the National Grid. Campaigners say the lines will slice through farmland, villages and historic landscapes, including the scheduled Roman fort at Pumsaint and the unique Dolaucothi Roman Gold Mines.
For residents, the cumulative effect is overwhelming. They fear Carmarthenshire is being earmarked as the dumping ground for Wales’ renewable ambitions, with little regard for the communities who will live in the shadow of the infrastructure.
“Ignored by Cardiff”
Eifion Evans, Harvard Hughes and Mari Mitchell at the CRAiG meeting
(Image: CRAiG)Havard Hughes, spokesperson for CRAiG Sir Gâr, told the meeting that people felt abandoned by their political representatives.
“Residents are shocked by the sheer scale of these developments,” he said. “Yet they are the utterly predictable result of Welsh Government designating a third of Carmarthenshire as an industrial wind zone in Future Wales 2040. Communities face a decade of disruption as roads are carved through countryside, bridges built for massive machines and quarries blasted out of hillsides. People are looking for support, but so far they feel ignored — both locally and in Cardiff Bay.”
Others went further. One Brechfa resident of more than fifty years said the projects were not about sustainability at all: “This isn’t green energy, it’s greed energy. Gwynfor Evans would be horrified at what this government is doing to its own country.”
Clash of visions
Developers insist the projects are essential if Wales is to meet its climate targets. Bryn Cadwgan’s backers say the scheme could power 115,000 homes and bring investment to one of the most rural parts of Wales. Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru argues its Glyn Cothi project will generate enough electricity for 144,000 households while creating jobs and improving access to Brechfa Forest for walkers and cyclists.
Green GEN Cymru, behind the pylon schemes, says it is investing nearly £1 billion in strengthening Wales’ energy infrastructure. “We will always seek to reduce the visual impact of our projects wherever possible,” a spokesperson said, though they added that fully undergrounding the lines was not economically viable.
Bute Energy, which is developing the Nant Ceiment site, claims its projects could deliver £3 billion of inward investment, create 2,000 jobs and generate a quarter of the energy needed to meet the Welsh Government’s 2035 renewable target.
But campaigners remain unconvinced. They argue that the benefits are being overstated, while the costs — to landscapes, tourism, farming and heritage — will be borne locally.
A fight for the county’s future
The language from CRAiG Sir Gâr has grown sharper in recent months. In July, the group warned that Carmarthenshire was being “concreted over” and that the removal of the county’s 18 Special Landscape Areas had left communities defenceless. “Before future generations ask ‘how grey was my valley,’” Hughes said, “there needs to be a moratorium on piecemeal renewables development.”
The group insists it is not opposed to renewable energy, but to what it sees as a chaotic, developer‑led rush that risks destroying the very qualities that make Carmarthenshire special.
For now, the immediate focus is on the Bryn Cadwgan consultation, which closes on 1 October. But campaigners are clear that this is just the start of a much bigger battle.
As one resident put it in Pumsaint: “We should be leaving the planet in a better state for future generations. Instead, we’re being asked to sacrifice our countryside so that foreign companies can profit. That’s not a future we’re willing to accept.”
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