Renewable energy: Minister blocks solar farms on Gwent Levels

Two solar farm developers are taking legal action after a Welsh government minister refused planning permission.

Rural Affairs Minister Lesley Griffiths blocked the schemes on the Gwent Levels on biodiversity grounds, despite planning inspectors recommending they get the go-ahead.

One developer warned it cast doubt on the prospect of creating new energy projects in Wales.

The Welsh government said it could not comment on the High Court challenges.

The move was praised by others who said tackling climate change could not be at the expense of wildlife.

The low-lying coastal landscape, which stretches from the east of Cardiff into Newport and Monmouthshire, is made up of saltmarshes and fields marked by drainage ditches, known in the area as reens.

It is home to a wide variety of protected species, including the great crested newt, water vole, bats, otters and grass snakes.

Because of the nature of the landscape, conservation groups have called for the Welsh government to have a moratorium on major developments there. One major solar farm already exists, near Llanwern.

Pylons run across the levels' landscape and the sites for both schemes were picked in part because they could be connected to the National Grid, a problem that has proved a stumbling block to other energy projects.

The largest of the two proposed schemes, between Marshfield and St Brides in Newport, would have seen a 122-hectare solar farm with capacity to generate 125MW, enough for 37,500 homes.

A similar, larger scheme was previously refused by the minister.

An inspection report said the environmental benefits outweighed the impact of the carbon footprint of manufacturing the panels, but the entire site was located within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Inspectors said they believed the scheme would cause "no unacceptable impacts on national statutory designated sites for nature conservation... or protected habitats and species".

But the minister said the applicants had not fully considered alternative sites and had not demonstrated "how damage to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning has been avoided".

The applicant, Wentlooge Farmers Solar Scheme Ltd, said it was "dismayed and exasperated".

"The refusal by Welsh ministers is now indicative of an emerging trend where the professional recommendations of the independent planning inspector is ignored, thus casting huge doubt over the prospects of developing new energy projects in Wales and tackling the declared climate emergency," it added.

The other scheme - Rush Wall - was smaller, with a capacity of 75MW at a site near Redwick, enough to power 18,755 homes.

It was also on a SSSI and the inspection report said the great crested newt and common pipistrelle bats were among the species identified on or around the site.

Recommending the scheme goes ahead, inspectors said plans would benefit the aquatic environments of the SSSI and the species that depended on the habitats.

But the minister made similar objections to the Rush Wall plans, saying alternative sites had not been fully considered.

The developer, BSR Energy, said: "The project's ability to connect to the UK's national electricity grid is the most significant benefit of the site.

"An energy generation project of this scale is not achievable in most other locations within the regional area or even at the national level."

Ross Evans, of the Welsh Countryside Charity, said: "Rapid transition to renewable energy has a critical role to play in addressing climate change. However, this cannot be at the expense of nature, the landscape and wildlife of the levels."

He disputed the claim the decision cast doubt on the future of renewables, saying his charity's map of applications going through the Welsh government's developments of national significance planning scheme showed a "shocking" scale of planned developments.

Catherine Linstrum, co-chairwoman of Friends of the Gwent Levels, said it was the right decision, and said there had been "a rush on the Gwent Levels, because of the need to increase renewable energy, and commercial interests have seen that as an opportunity to make a lot of money".

Gwent Wildlife Trust's planning manager, Mike Webb, said while the charity supported renewable energy, there were "tens of thousands of acres of land throughout Wales which are much more suited to solar farms".

The Welsh government said: "I can confirm challenges have been made against the decisions to refuse planning permission for the Wentlooge Solar Farm and the Rush Wall Solar Farm.

"We cannot comment further as both decisions are subject to ongoing legal proceeding."