Residents' shock as giant wind turbines arrive
PEOPLE in Ammanford have been taken by surprise at the sight of giant wind turbines arriving on the horizon.
This is the claim of county councillor Deian Harries, who said residents had not expected the 15 hulking structures to arrive on Mynydd y Betws so soon.
"People have been in for a shock," said Mr Harries after the first 150-tonne lorry had made its way from Swansea Docks to the mountain. "They did not expect the turbines to arrive now and it's taken everyone by surprise."
The company behind the build, ESB, said it had made every effort to inform people of the schedule, printing thousands of flyers and advertising in newspapers.
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But a company spokesman said most publicity had been focused in the Swansea Valley, through which the turbines were being transported, not Ammanford.
"They are not going to be erected immediately," he said. "So the focus is on the journey, transporting the abnormal loads."
Vehicles of up to 50 metres long and weighing 150 tonnes have begun using the A474 to travel to the site, which overlooks Ammanford on the border of Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire.
The massive turbine parts will be delivered between now and October. After that, people in Ammanford can expect to see the monolithic blades pop up on their skyline. The company said the wind farm would be completed and plugged into the grid at some point in the first quarter of 2013.
"The exact date of completion will depend on the weather," Mr Fellows added. "We cannot put them up while it is windy."
The Mynydd y Betws wind farm has divided opinion in the town: some people, like Mr Harries, have described it as "sacrilege", while others welcomed the multimillion-pound community fund ESB have promised. The project is one of several planned or in construction in Carmarthenshire, as well as an offshore development lined up in the Bristol Channel. But it has not been without its problems.
When the plans were first announced, residents in the Swansea Valley formed the Communities Acting Together, objecting to the prospect of the parts of the turbines being driven through their tiny communities.
They claimed such loads would delay emergency services, damage the route, lower property prices and potentially cut off communities if one stretch, Gelligron Hill, which had subsidence trouble in the past, collapsed. The police, however, have given their blessing to the transport plan.
Furthermore, earlier this year, freelance archaeologists claimed they had found a 5,000-year-old "stone row" on the site.
This was rejected by ESB's own archaeologists, the Dyfed Archaeological Trust, and the work continued unhindered.
alex.smith@swwmedia.co.uk
01267 227233
Comments
by toptexter
Sunday, September 16 2012, 6:31PM
“people in ammanford won't see much. i don't know what gives them that impression. it will be
two at the most and that will be the top half from two certain areas. the further away and higher they go, in places like saron they will see a bit more.
i don't suppose this is the same deiann harries that has played down a theft complaint in ammanford?”
by toptexter
Sunday, September 16 2012, 6:24PM
“what planet is this plaid councillor on? bet he hasn't been up the mountain. looks like it's playing politics by the looks of it and brownie points just to get himself in the paper. clueless
residents in ammanford cannot see what is going on at pontardawe, cwmgors and bancbryn/
and they will have no idea if anything gets delivered even at the scotch pine area. they won't know until it goes up.
of course they are going to erect them. do they think they are going to leave a an 100 ton tower lying on the ground for months on end. if the wind is light, they will. after all, it is a mountain and it tends to get windy up there even on a nice day. if the wind is something like 10miles a second, they don't go up... work it out”
by Neathboy234
Sunday, September 16 2012, 1:43PM
“siarad says The one thing you shouldn't do is follow the crowd. Even when 99% of scientists say so. You keep following the 1% if you want to, even if they are paid by the oil companies. Some are so easily taken in, try looking at the evidence it might surprise you”
by siarad2
Sunday, September 16 2012, 1:37PM
“OMG Neathboy you can't even read or is your concentration span so short you couldn't reach my last paragraph.
Don't worry about me being on my own I've been decades ahead several times & proved right.
!955 20 min. lecture against leaded petrol giving an alternative, leaded petrol since discontinued.
!955 worked out road loading factor, now used to reduce congestion & speed journeys on M25 & around Newport by reducing the speed limit.
1971 worked out 'the traffic light effect' now called 'shock-wave' to account for mysterious motorway stoppages.
Just a few, & I was an electronics designer.
It was in 1947 or 8 I can't remember in which Richard Feynman was ridiculed by all the scientific establishment, the big guys of which walked out of his lecture.
He was less than 1% being alone but he founded the most complete knowledge we have of the Universe, Quantum Electrodynamics, QED, a genius that's how things work one person out of step gets it more right.
The one thing you shouldn't do is follow the crowd because they ALWAYS turn out to be less than right.”
by Neathboy234
Sunday, September 16 2012, 11:21AM
“siarad2 V 99% of the worlds scientists, I think your on a loser there mate. Or rather siarad2 and the 1% against the word. BTW are you paid by an oil company like the majority of the 1%.
PS If they were shocked i can only imagine they are living in some kind of dream world.”
by siarad2
Sunday, September 16 2012, 10:17AM
“30% of the EU gas goes to waste by burn-off, 1.2% of the worlds CO2 goes that way, if you believe in that false god to whom we pay green taxes.
Let's spend our money on really doing some good & cut this waste by super rich oil companies, make them pay not us.”
by immigrant1
Sunday, September 16 2012, 6:55AM
“williamwaun - I don't agree with you about nuclear power, but you are spot on that we need to get away from our dependence on oil and gas from other countries. We get lots of gas from Russia, so what happens to us if they decide to shut down the pipeline, as they have already done to other countries. And the effect was felt right across Europe.”
by immigrant1
Sunday, September 16 2012, 6:38AM
“Why is a shock. They knew they were getting wind turbines. Wind turbines are beautiful and are much safer and cleaner than nuclear, coal, oil and gas power.”
by Neathboy234
Saturday, September 15 2012, 7:22PM
“Vindpust I was having a little joke. the so called freelance archaeologists claim was rejected by ESB's own archaeologists, the Dyfed Archaeological Trust. 5000 year old stone wall!!”
by williamwaun
Saturday, September 15 2012, 7:12PM
“We need these wind farms and more solar farms. Also we need electric cars and nuclear power station. We can't rely on other countries any more, look what's going on in the middle east, we need to change before it's to late.”