Welcome to
Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park

Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park, proposed by renewable energy company Galileo, is located on the Carmarthenshire / Ceredigion border, approximately 10km to the east of Lampeter, 10km to the south of Tregaron and 16km to the north of Llandovery.

Comprising up to 25 turbines with a maximum height to blade tip of 230m. The wind element alone will have an installed capacity of up to 175 megawatts (MW). Solar photovoltaic panels and battery energy storage system technology are also being considered at the Energy Park, subject to the completion of further technical studies.

Situated in a very rural, sparsely populated area within the Cambrian Mountain Range, the Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park site benefits from an excellent wind resource. The site is currently used for grazing farmland and forestry.

Due to the scale of the proposed Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park, it is classed as a Development of National Significance (DNS) and a planning application will be submitted to the Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) for determination by Welsh Ministers. This applies to all energy generation projects between 10MW and 350MW.

Although Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion County Councils will not determine the planning application, they are key statutory consultees and will prepare Local Impact Reports as the host planning authorities.

The Application will be administered by the Welsh Government, with the expectation that it will be ready to submit in late 2024.

If the Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park is approved, the turbines alone could produce over 175 megawatts (MW), enough to power up to 115,000 homes 2. This could save up to 171,000 tonnes 3 of carbon dioxide emissions per year, assisting in tackling the climate emergency and supporting Wales to achieve its target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

In addition, it will provide social and economic benefits to local communities and to the wider region, for example through construction and operational employment and long-term economic investment.

The project has secured a grid connection to allow us to export electricity to the National Grid. A specific route of the grid connection is still to be decided, and so will be subject to a separate consent application.

Project Proposal

Renewable energy – tackling the climate emergency and delivering home-grown energy.

The proposal for Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park is set against the backdrop of the climate emergency, and the need to move to more sustainable energy sources in order to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Recent events have also focused people’s minds on the risks of over-reliance on imported fossil fuels, with the rising cost of gas driving the huge increase in energy bills.

The growth of secure, home-grown renewable energy can help to insulate Wales and the UK from future price shocks and play a key role in decarbonising heat, power, and transport.

Onshore wind is one of the cheapest sources of new-build electricity generation in the UK, and already makes an important contribution to the renewables mix.

Future growth of this will assist in achieving the Welsh Government target for 100% of Wales’s electricity needs to be generated from renewable sources by 2035.

Site Location…

Facts and Figures

Location

  • 16km north of Llandovery
  • 10km south of Tregaron
  • 10km east of Lampeter
  • 10km to the west of Llanwrtyd Wells

Why Bryn Cadwgan?

  • Potential to provide clean, carbon-free electricity to thousands of homes and businesses
  • Excellent wind resource
  • Could significantly boost the local economy
  • Located in a very rural, sparely populated area on the border between Carmarthen and Ceredigion
  • Supports Welsh Government and Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion’s County Borough Council’s policy aspirations regarding carbon zero.

Specification

Wind

  • Up to 25 turbines
  • 230m to blade tip
  • Total installed capacity of up to 175 megawatts (MW)
  • Annual output of approximately 403,000 MWh/annum 1
  • 115,000 home per annum equivalent powered from wind alone 2
  • Approximately 171,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions saved per annum 3

Solar

  • Ground mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) modules fixed to mounting structures known as ‘strings’
  • Each panel typically 2m long and 1m wide
  • Maximum height of the modules approximately 4m
  • Panels angled towards the sun

Battery Energy Storage System (BESS)

  • BESS is designed to provide peak generation and grid balancing services to the electricity grid
  • As a secondary function, it may also import surplus energy from the electricity grid when energy available to the grid exceeds demands
  • The BESS typically comprises a number of shipping container units

Indicative Timeline

  1. Surveys Underway
    2022 – 2024

  2. Submission to PEDW

    Autumn 2023

  3. Public exhibitions

    Autumn 2023

  4. Early 2024

  5. Public exhibitions

    Mid/Late 2024

  6. to PEDW

    Late 2024

  7. 2025

* A Scoping Request seeks to obtain from PEDW the scope and level of detail of information that needs to be provided in the Environmental Statement.

Galileo’s Community Offering

Galileo is committed to developing projects that deliver substantial and tangible benefits locally and foster strong community relations.

If successful, millions of pounds will be spent locally over the lifetime of the energy park, in addition to creating and supporting existing jobs in areas such as construction and hospitality.

Community Wealth Fund

Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park will provide a real opportunity to build and contribute to a lasting and sustainable Community Wealth Fund, benefitting the local community for the lifetime of the energy park and beyond.

We are committed to exploring with local groups and organisations as to how a Community Wealth Fund, index-linked for the operational lifetime of the energy park, can best be distributed.

The extent of the community fund will be based on each MW of the entire project providing a guaranteed income of £5,000 annually (index-linked).

We actively encourage input from members of the local community concerning the types of local projects they would like to see benefit from the wealth fund.

Some suggestions to consider are highlighted below:

  • Local Energy Discounts

We are keen to explore the potential for discounting energy bills for those properties in communities closest to the energy park. This would be a direct and tangible benefit to people living and working closest to Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park, and would be open to all residential, business and community buildings.

 

  • Education and Training Fund

To encourage local students who want to extend their education but may not have the means to do so, we could set up an energy park bursary scheme. Working with local schools and further education practitioners, we could support aspiring learners and those wishing to enter Modern Apprenticeships or develop land-based skills.

Community Shared Ownership

In addition to the Community Wealth Fund, up to 10% ownership in the project will be offered to the community surrounding the development. We have extensive experience in working with government advisers on such matters, who can assist in providing professional advice and support to the local community.

Any profits that come out of any ownership stake can be used to benefit the community. Additionally, our team is extremely well placed given they have been directly involved in successfully delivering community shared ownership elsewhere in the UK.

Construction Community Fund

A Construction Community Fund will be made available to local groups and organisations to coincide with the start of construction until the commencement of the operation of the energy park, to help offset any inconvenience caused during the construction period.

Community Engagement

At Galileo, we believe strongly in the need for ongoing dialogue regarding our projects from the very beginning. We promise to consult and listen carefully to the communities’ views, making changes to accommodate these views where possible.

We welcome the opportunity to listen to local people’s views via email or telephone, and we will be holding a number of public exhibitions to consult further with the community later in 2023/24.

Documents to download

Scoping report submitted to PEDW CLICK HERE TO OPEN EXHIBITION BOARDS* CLICK HERE TO OPEN Viewpoint locations CLICK HERE TO OPEN INDICATIVE PROPOSED LAYOUT

*Exhbition Boards updated 30/11/23

Further Information

If you wish to discuss the proposal for Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park in more detail, please contact:

Leslie Walker | Project Manager
Email: BrynCadwgan@galileoenergy.uk
Phone: 01550 910285

About Galileo

Founded in 2020, Galileo is a fast-growing pan-European, multitechnology, renewable energy developer, owner and operator with a mission to significantly contribute to achieving global emission reduction targets.

We aim to do this by developing enough smart, efficient, high quality and integrated green energy projects such that renewable energy becomes the primary source of electricity for all energy consumers in Europe.

We currently have a project development portfolio of over 7000 MW across multiple European countries, including the UK, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and Poland.  With an office in Cardiff, Bryn Cadwgan Energy Park is one of a pipeline of our new renewable energy projects in development across Wales. 

Our senior management team is made up of leading energy and investment experts that bring decades of international experience across more than thirty markets. Our funders are long- term infrastructure and pension funds with a global footprint, international mindset, and a collaborative mentality.

More information about Galileo is available at galileoenergy.uk

This website will be updated regularly to ensure the most up to date information on the project is available.

References

1 Annual Output
Calculated by multiplying the installed capacity in MW by the number of hours in a year (8760) and then multiplying this by DESNZ’s long-term average load factor for onshore wind (26.34%) expressed as a fraction of 1 (e.g. 0.2634). The source for capacity factors is Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics (DUKES) published annually by DESNZ (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero).

2 Homes Powered Equivalent
Calculated using the most recent statistics from DESNZ showing that annual GB average domestic household consumption is 3,509kWh (as of December 2022, updated annually). RenewableUK calculates homes powered as: the number of megawatts installed, multiplied by DESNZ’s “all wind” onshore load factor expressed as a fraction of 1, multiplied by the number of hours in a year, divided by average annual domestic electricity consumption expressed in MWh.

3 CO2 Reduction
RenewableUK uses DESNZ’s “all non-renewable fuels” emissions statistic of 424 tonnes of carbon dioxide per GWh of electricity supplied in the Digest of UK Energy Statistics (July 2023) Table 5.14 (“Estimated carbon dioxide emissions from electricity supplied”). Carbon reduction is calculated by multiplying the total amount of electricity generated by wind per year by the number of tonnes of carbon which fossil fuels would have produced to generate the same amount of electricity.

https://www.renewableuk.com/page/UKWEDExplained