Why windfarms and electricity pylons have become a major issue in the Welsh election

Future plans for renewable energy are emerging as a key issue in the election for Wales’s parliament, the Senedd, on May 7.

Proposals for new infrastructure, including windfarms and pylon lines, required to meet targets for low carbon energy are facing opposition in many parts of rural Wales, with campaigners suggesting that the issue will influence how some people vote in the election.

With a far greater divide among parties over green issues than in past elections, windfarms and pylons have shot up the political agenda.

The Labour-run Welsh government signed a new deal in March to speed up progress towards its target of 100% of Wales’s electricity consumption being met from renewable sources by 2035. Meeting this target requires a significant expansion of on- and off-shore windfarms, solar parks and tidal energy schemes, prompting an increase in proposals. New power lines are also needed to carry the electricity generated to consumers in cities, with current proposals for new transmission lines across Carmarthenshire and Powys, largely to be carried above ground by steel pylons.

The Conservatives made opposition to new pylon lines a focal point of their 2024 general election campaigns in Carmarthenshire and Powys, with former Welsh secretary Simon Hart featuring anti-pylon symbols on his signs in the Caerfyrddin constituency. This position is reiterated in the party’s 2026 Senedd manifesto, which calls for a “bury cables first” approach as well as a moratorium on industrial wind and solar energy developments.

Reform UK, currently running second in the polls in Wales, is also calling for new onshore wind to be banned and for solar farms to be banned on “productive arable land” and cables to be buried underground where possible.

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For right-wing parties, opposition to windfarms and pylons is consistent with their broader scepticism towards net zero. This issue is challenging for Plaid Cymru, currently leading in the polls and the Liberal Democrats, who generally back action on climate change, but see local opposition to pylons and windfarms in several of their traditionally stronger rural electoral areas in mid and west Wales.

Plaid Cymru has already announced that it would introduce a “strong presumption in favour of undergrounding” electricity cables.

Windfarms have operated in Wales since the 1990s. By 2024, 865 onshore wind power sites produced 3,152 gigawatt-hours of electricity. In 2024 renewable electricity generation was equivalent to 54% of Welsh electricity consumption.

Part of the conflict is because wind turbines are prohibited in Wales’s national parks, clustering projects in other parts of rural Wales.

Protesters cite a perceived over-concentration of wind turbines in areas such as Radnorshire.

Expanding capacity for renewable energy involves not only new windfarms (and solar farms and tidal power), but also new transmission lines to the carry the electricity produced in rural Wales to cities. Several lines are proposed, including the Tywi Teifi and Towy Usk networks in Carmarthenshire and south Powys, mostly carried by pylons up to 30 metres high.

As with windfarms, new pylon lines are controversial for their impact on the landscape and disruption during construction. Campaign groups such as community action body CaruTeifi and Re-THINK have plastered affected districts with signs opposing pylons, lobbied politicians, including a protest at the Senedd in February, calling for the transmission lines to be put underground.

Undergrounding power lines has also been backed by organisations including the Campaign to Protect Rural Wales and the Farmers’ Union of Wales increasing pressure on politicians.

What is not yet clear is whether voters will prioritise local concerns around windfarms and pylons or worries over climate change. A survey by the Countryside Alliance in 2025 suggested that 93% of respondents in Wales opposed pylon construction in their area. But a YouGov poll for Friends of the Earth in March found that 60% of Welsh voters were worried about climate change and 65% had a positive view of onshore wind.

Challenges for power line planning

Current Welsh government planning guidance states that “where possible” new power lines “should be laid underground”. However, it also allows that “that a balanced view must be taken against costs which could render otherwise acceptable projects unviable”. Plaid Cymru plans to remove this caveat. Reform UK pledges to maintain the current guidance.

In practice, not putting transmission lines underground has been justified on grounds of access, construction disruption, and above all cost. The Independent Advisory Group on Future Electricity Grid for Wales quotes evidence that the cost is 2.2 – 2.8 times greater for underground 132Kv cables installed by digging open trenches, but notes that differentials vary by voltage and technique.

Plaid Cymru has not been clear how the additional costs would be met. Increased project costs are typically passed on to billpayers, which can be a deterrent for companies to underground cables, especially as they have a legal obligation to deliver value for money to consumers. However, any effect on the price of electricity may become more acceptable if rising oil and gas prices lead to renewable sources being considered more cost effective by the public.

Impact on climate goals

There are concerns that increasing costs or cancelling or delaying projects will affect Wales’s ability to take necessary action on climate change. Labour has criticised Plaid Cymru for its policy changes and for rowing back on a pledge to make Wales’s carbon emissions net zero by 2035. Labour’s manifesto reaffirms its targets, outlines policies to make approval easier for renewable energy projects, and does not mention pylons.

The Green party also sees renewable energy as an issue that differentiates it from Plaid Cymru. The Welsh Green leader Anthony Slaughter told journalist Will Hayward that Plaid had “tied themselves in knots over the discussion about infrastructure. This is infrastructure that’s needed to deliver the renewable energy revolution that Wales needs, and that is a key area.”

The Greens’ manifesto states that: “Renewable energy must be developed responsibly. Infrastructure such as pylons and grid upgrades will be carefully planned to avoid damage to sensitive ecosystems and protected landscapes”.

The difference between the Greens and Plaid on this issue may become more significant if the two parties need to form a coalition after the election, as some commentators predict.