In this blog, Ben Lewis-Hayes, Strategic Planning and Consents Director at Bute Energy and Chair of RenewableUK Cymru’s Strategy Group, shares his expert insights from the Onshore Wind Conference 2024, reflecting on the critical sessions addressing biodiversity, climate crises, and the economic impact of onshore wind—key issues that are shaping the future of renewable energy in Wales.
The climate and nature emergencies are two of the biggest challenges of our time. And they are linked. If we do not address the climate crisis, the nature emergency will get worse. Onshore wind is in a unique position where it can address both. If we do as the UK Prime Minister and the Welsh First Minister want and supercharge our efforts on renewable deployment, then we will also be supercharging our efforts to address the climate and nature emergencies.
How this is achieved across the UK was the key discussion point for the ‘Biodiversity Positive Projects’ panel session at the Onshore Wind Conference 2024 in Edinburgh. As we develop wind farms across Wales, Bute Energy is committed to respecting and enhancing biodiversity. It was good to hear that this ambition is shared by the industry.
The link between the climate and nature crisis cannot be denied. The 2023 State of Nature report stated: ‘The evidence from the last 50 years shows that on land and in freshwater, significant and ongoing changes in the way we manage our land for agriculture, and the effects of climate change, are having the biggest impacts on our wildlife.’
The transition to a green energy system has been identified by both UK and Welsh Government as a primary objective to combat climate change. Renewable energy projects by their very nature (excuse the pun!) contribute to this transition, but they can also have a significant impact on land management and the enhancement and restoration of natural habitats once operational.
We recognise the contributions that our projects can make to climate change and alongside this, we work closely with our landowners on the management of the land within our energy parks to enhance and restore habitats and biodiversity.
The world of biodiversity enhancement, and the policy that governs it, is in flux. There is a need to establish boundaries between how much we can protect nature and still deliver onshore wind.
"The work to date has identified that guidance can sometimes be too simple and fail to recognise that complex ecology conditions require flexible solutions."
Ben Lewis-Hayes
At the conference session discussing Community Benefit earlier this morning, it was highlighted that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach – this is the same for biodiversity enhancement (as it’s known in Scotland) or Biodiversity Net Gain (as it’s known in England) or Net Benefit for Biodiversity (as it’s known in Wales). Not only do the countries have different names for it, they all have different approaches to how it is measured and assessed.
I was impressed by the work the Peatland Expert Advisory Sub-Group in Scotland is doing to make peat guidance consistent with national planning policy and Economic Impact Assessment terminology. The project is preparing a framework for a Scottish Peatland standard. The work to date has identified that guidance can sometimes be too simple and not recognise that complex ecology conditions can require flexible solutions. I look forward to seeing the group’s final report in the next couple of months. It’s a report I believe the Welsh Government and Natural Resources Wales should take a look at.
The session also considered the effectiveness of monitoring the impacts of onshore wind farms on birds once they start operating. The fact that Nature Scot are looking at this to determine whether the cost of monitoring could be of more benefit if spent on nature conservation is an interesting approach. Again, I look forward to seeing the results.
Other points which caught my attention:
I came to the same conference for the first time last year where the focus was understandably on the Sector Deal – onshore wind in Wales was hardly mentioned. It was brilliant to hear a lot more Welsh (and English) perspectives brought into the mix this time. We have real momentum with the new Labour Government and we now need to capitalise on this. Great to hear a potential Wales Sector Deal get a mention too!
I’m familiar with the Welsh context, the stepwise approach, Planning Policy 12 and the potentially draconian approach to peat (which we are waiting for a DNS planning decision to clarify as policy is so unclear). I believe the Welsh Government could learn a lot by looking north to their Scottish counterparts and taking on lessons from their experience and research to date (and even collaborating).
It was great to get the RSPB’s perspective on onshore wind as well. After opening with a stark reality check, their support for onshore wind was clear, provided that the UK’s sensitive, protected areas are avoided and nature positive outcomes are delivered.
There is undoubtedly a lot of work to be done. But we need to do this at pace if we are to deploy onshore wind at the scale required and in doing so, address the nature emergency.
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