There will be hundreds of wind turbines welcoming you as you travel through the Welsh hill country.

Tourists travelling through the Welsh hill country are probably already familiar with the sight and sound of wind turbines. But the Welsh Assembly is actively encouraging and facilitating the development of many more, and much larger, wind farms in the uplands and coastal regions of Wales.

Some of Wales most precious landscapes are being earmarked for wind farm development. So if you are planning to travel to Wales to enjoy its spectacular scenery and its peace and quiet, be prepared to see and hear some startling changes.

Transporting turbine tower sections through Wales to a wind farm construction site.

As you travel along the picturesque roads of Wales you may find you have pull over to make way for large convoys carrying component parts to wind farm sites. Take advantage of this break in your journey to enjoy the panoramic views while you still can: they are about to be sacrificed to industrial development.

Latest news March 2009: Road chaos fears over wind farms.

Building work on more wind turbines in rural Wales will bring "significant disruption" because country roads will have problems coping, says a report.

A Powys council study obtained by Conservation of Upland Powys activists says narrow roads and bridges will have difficulty handling trucks needed to carry the huge structures. The group obtained the draft 86-page Powys council report in a Freedom of Information Act request.

Over 450 turbines may be built in Powys and Ceredigion alone in coming years. Powys council and the Welsh Assembly Government said they were looking at how to tackle the problem.

The study, by consultants Capita Symonds, highlighted the logistical problems of transporting a new generation of larger and more powerful turbines to the uplands of Powys, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire.

The operation is said to require bespoke lorries measuring 55m in length, 5m in width and weighing nearly 130 tonnes, travelling through Wales five days a week for five years and making more than 3,000 journeys.

This lorry, on its way to Cefn Croes, is only about 30m long. Imagine one nearly twice as long!

For more details click here to read the report from the Border Counties Advertizer on April 7, 2009 and click here to see the full story from BBC News on March 27, 2009.

The Welsh Assembly, in its latest planning policy statement on renewable energy*, has declared its ambition to become ‘a global showcase for clean energy by 2010.’ To achieve this goal, the Assembly has set some ambitious targets for renewable energy production and has ‘…concluded that onshore wind will be the main large-scale technology capable of achieving our 2010 target'. So you can expect to see many hundreds of enormous wind machines appearing in the Welsh hills.

* Technical Advice Note 8: Planning for Renewable Energy, published by the Welsh Assembly, July 2005.