Y Bryn

Onshore wind farm

Welcome

to the project website for the
Y Bryn onshore wind farm.

Coriolis Energy and ESB are proposing to develop a new onshore wind farm in South Wales that could deliver enough renewable energy to power over 85,700 homes.*

The proposed wind farm site is split into two blocks. The Bryn block is located to the south of the B4282, with the Penhydd block located to the north of the road. The Llynfi and Afan valleys lie to the east and west of the wind farm site respectively. The M4 motorway, the main arterial route running east to west through South Wales, lies to the south of the site.

As this project will deliver in excess of 10MW of wind energy it will constitute a Development of National Significance (DNS) under the Planning (Wales) Act 2015 an application must be made to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales, which will make a recommendation to Welsh Ministers on whether or not to grant planning permission.

This website will be updated regularly to keep you informed about the proposals and the upcoming public consultation, where we will be seeking views of local residents and consultees.

*Source: See FAQs on ‘Proposals’ page for further information about these figures:
Renewable UK Wind Energy Database (2021): https://www.renewableuk.com/page/UKWEDExplained

Stats Wales: Households by Local Authority and Year (2019)

 

Public Consultation

Following our first and second phases of consultation on our developing proposals, we received a significant amount of feedback, which has helped us to refine the design of the scheme. 

A third, statutory, phase of consultation took place between 1st June and 17th July 2023. We are grateful for all those that have engaged with the consultation and provided their feedback.

During the statutory consultation, we shared  our final proposed scheme with the local community and all the draft planning application documents remain available to view from this website (see links to the right, and the ‘Project Documents‘ page). In addition, we held a range of public information events in the following locations:

Bryn Community Centre: Maesteg Road, Bryn, Neath Port Talbot, SA13 2RY – Monday 12 June, 2pm to 7pm

Taibach Community Centre: Duke Street, Taibach, Port Talbot, SA13 1NA – Tuesday 13 June, 2pm – 7pm

Cefn Cribwr Athletic Club: Cae Gof, Cefn Road, Cefn Cribwr, Bridgend CF32 0BA – Wednesday 14 June, 2pm to 7pm

Maesteg Sports Centre: Old Forge Site, Nant-y-Crynwydd, Maesteg, CF34 9EB – Friday 16 June, 2pm to 7pm

Cwmafan Community Centre: Depot Road, Cwmafan, Port Talbot, SA12 9BA (for Sat Nav, please use SA12 9DF) – Saturday 17 June, 2pm to 7pm

If you were unable to make any of these events, we have created a virtual exhibition, with information about the proposals available to view. Click here to enter the virtual exhibition room.

Click here to download a digital copy of the most recent newsletter posted to local households. 

Project Update – Statutory Consultation – 1st June to 17th July 2023

*The statutory consultation period has now closed.*

The draft application has been developed as a result of feedback received from the local community and technical consultees to date. Key points raised related to visual impacts, turbine noise, traffic and construction, wildlife and existing uses. We have sought to address key issues through making the following updates to the plans:

  • Reducing the number of proposed turbines from 21 to 18 (down from 26 originally proposed).
  • Reducing the height of three further turbines to reduce visual impact from Bryn village and surrounding communities.
  • Relocating two turbines to reduce visual impact from Bryn village.
  • Changes to forestry management and habitat enhancement plans following further assessments and agreements.
 
Further detail about these updates are available on this website.
 
Whilst the statutory consultation period has now closed, the full draft planning application, along with all accompanying appendices will remain available for reference from the Project Documents page of this website.

Timeline

Winter/Spring 2021

Project inception, early investigative surveys and EIA scoping

Early Summer 2021

Phase 1 Community Consultation on EIA Scoping

Late Summer 2021

Collation of feedback and analysis. 

Autumn 2021

Phase 2 Community Consultation on refined proposals

Winter 2022/ Spring 2023

Concluding environmental assessments, reviewing feedback and finalising the proposals

We are here

Statutory consultation on draft planning documents and review of feedback.

2023

Application submission to Welsh Government

We are proposing to develop a new onshore wind farm in South Wales that could deliver enough renewable energy to power over 85,700 homes.*

Have your say

We are undertaking an extensive pre-application community consultation exercise prior to submitting an application to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW). This  involves two rounds of public consultation (Which took place in 2021 and 2022), and a formal consultation period (1st June to 17th July 2023) as required by the DNS regulations set out in the Planning (Wales) Act 2015.

We have now closed our third, statutory, phase of public consultation on the proposals. Please contact us via this website if you have any questions about the project.

About us

This project is being developed by Coriolis Energy and ESB in partnership.

Coriolis Energy is an experienced, professional wind energy developer, which has delivered projects around the UK that are currently bringing benefits to both communities and the environment.

ESB is Ireland’s premier energy company and is a leading independent power generator in the UK, committed to investing in Wales’s natural resources.

Introductory Project Video

Note: Some information in this video relates to the initial proposals and early layout. For the latest information you can view the current materials on the Project Documents page.