Waun Hesgog Energy Park

About the project

We’re bringing forward proposals for an onshore renewable energy project – the Waun Hesgog Energy Park. The site is located approximately 17km north-east of Aberystwyth in Ceredigion, with additional land at Moel Y Llyn extending into Powys.

The proposal includes up to 37 wind turbines generating 248MW of clean, green energy, enough to power the equivalent of nearly 176,000 households a year*.  The clean energy generated at Waun Hesgog will help displace approximately 249,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

The project will also deliver significant benefits to the local community, including an annual Community Benefit Fund of around £1.8 million worth of investment (based on current designs) in community projects every year for the operational life of the project.

According to the new planning system in Wales (called the Infrastructure Consents Regime), this project is classed as a Significant Infrastructure Project.  This means that developers must submit consent applications to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW), and decisions are made by Welsh Ministers.

* – Average UK household consumption taken from RenewableUK 

Latest developments

Our first stage of consultation has now closed, and we’ll be looking at all the feedback we’ve received as we develop the design for Waun Hesgog Energy Park further.

We hope to run our next stage of consultation in due course, where we’ll be looking for your thoughts on our revised proposals before we finalise them and submit to Welsh Government for approval. We will keep this website updated with details of the next stage and any other relevant information. 

You can continue to contact us at waun.hesgog@bute.energy if you have any specific questions or would like to speak to someone in more detail about our Community Investment programme.

Hear from the project team:

The site

Our proposals include:

  • Up to 37 wind turbines, each with a maximum blade tip height of 220m
  • Access tracks and other associated infrastructure including a substation, control building, wind measurement equipment and temporary construction and storage compounds. The delivery route for turbine components to site is still to be explored, with further detail to be provided at the next stage of consultation.

To inform our proposals and refine the methodologies for our technical assessments, we will submit a request for an EIA Scoping Direction to PEDW.

The detailed design of the energy park will evolve over the coming months. We will be seeking feedback from local people and statutory consultees to inform this, alongside ongoing environmental and technical assessments.

Waun Hesog Energy Park Boundary Map

 

Project timeline:

Submitting a request to Planning and
Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW)
for direction on the scope of our
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) June 2025
close xPrevious
Next
Submitting a request to Planning and
Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW)
for direction on the scope of our
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)June 2025

This is an important early milestone in developing the project. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a central document which sets out all of the surveys, assessments and reports we undertake to inform the design of the proposed energy park and ensure that we’re minimising potential environmental impacts. This process takes several months, and we must ensure that we assess all necessary environmental considerations. At this point we submit an overview of how we intend to undertake this work, and which surveys and assessments we’ll include. Through its ‘Scoping Direction’, (normally in the form of a letter), the department responsible for planning at Welsh Government (PEDW) will then tell us whether our proposed approach to delivering this is appropriate, and if we need to take any other issues into account.

LatestNon-statutory engagement with communities,
specialist consultees and other stakeholders Closed summer 2025
close xPrevious
Next
LatestNon-statutory engagement with communities,
specialist consultees and other stakeholdersClosed summer 2025

This is our first round of consultations. During this stage, we continue carrying out environmental surveys and assessments to inform the draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). At the same time, we begin shaping the design of the proposed energy park. To do this, we hold an ‘informal’ consultation round, where we present early proposals and invite feedback from communities, stakeholders and consultees. It’s known as ‘non-statutory’ consultation, because we aren’t required to undertake it, and we won’t yet have all the details about the plans – however we see great value in presenting our early plans in order to help inform the design process.

Current PhaseProject transition to Infrastructure Consents Regime Ongoing
close xPrevious
Next
Project transition to Infrastructure Consents RegimeOngoing

The planning system in Wales is changing – this is the system in which big infrastructure projects like onshore wind parks work through in order to gain planning permission to build the infrastructure.  The change to a new planning system comes as a result of the Welsh Government’s Infrastructure (Wales) Act 2024.

Many of our current and future projects may be considered under the new Infrastructure Consent Regime as Significant Infrastructure Projects. But it won’t be all of our projects – because some of our projects were submitted into the Developments of National Significance process before the Infrastructure Consents Regime went live (on 14 December 2025). The Welsh Government has agreed that Developments of National Significance projects which had already started could carry on under the old regime – as long as they submitted their applications before 14 December 2026.

Our current DNS projects that are moving to the new Infrastructure Consent Regime include:

  • Waun Hesgog Energy Park
  • Lan Fawr Energy Park
  • Garreg Fawr Energy Park
  • Bryn Gilwern Energy Park
  • Esgair Galed Energy Park

Click here to read our simple guide to the new planning system in Wales.

Latest updates