Wind farm showdown: Can the 'blockers' outmaneuver the government?
"A futile form of renewable energy... carpet-bombing the countryside... irreversible damage."
These are the heated, vocal, and organized campaigners against onshore wind in Wales.
Dozens of new projects are set to transform the rolling hills of Wales as the government races to meet its clean energy targets.
It claims it is willing to confront the 'blockers' to construct hundreds of these towering steel structures, aiming to make energy cheaper, cleaner, and more secure.
However, in Wales, these 'blockers' also identify as environmentalists: nature enthusiasts who fear the plans will forever mar their countryside and culture.
They are convinced there are better ways for Wales to embrace sustainability.
So, who is truly safeguarding Wales?
"No more pylons" chant a few hundred protesters outside the Welsh parliament on a chilly, blustery February afternoon.
Many at the protest distance themselves from Reform UK politicians, who have vocally opposed onshore wind due to doubts about the extent of climate change.
"Very few of us are climate deniers," one protester says in Cardiff. "We all acknowledge there's a problem... the question is: how do we address it?"
The answer, they say, lies in a combination of offshore wind, community projects, and rooftop solar, arguing that these can meet Wales's needs without building turbines that would also power England.
They are frustrated by the sense that history is repeating itself: another Welsh resource, following water and coal, being harnessed to keep England's lights on.
However, with electricity demand in Wales projected to at least double by 2050, and 60% still sourced from gas, Welsh Labour argues that doing without onshore wind is a luxury it cannot afford.
Welsh Labour told Sky News it would be "challenging to deliver the required scale of electricity at the needed pace for a climate emergency if we were to rely solely on community-owned generation."
The specter of the Hendy wind farm
The shadow of the Hendy wind farm looms large over the debate. Seven "ghost turbines" in Powys were built despite the council's objection and never connected to the grid.
While the industry views Hendy as an anomaly, locals see it as a cautionary tale of broken promises and reckless haste.
This is why they are staunchly opposed to the proposed Nant Mithil energy park. The project would install turbines 220 meters tall -- twice the height of Big Ben -- on the serene hilltop of Radnor Forest.
Although the site could power 130,000 homes, campaigner Nigel Dodman sees only "ecological disaster."
"Due to industrialization, the 27 kilometers of roads they'd have to build, and all the construction work involved," he says. "Do we ruin this landscape and its ecology, or do we preserve it for generations to come?"
What does the majority say?
Despite the protest's volume, data suggests they are swimming against the tide.
Nearly 80% of Welsh citizens are comfortable with seeing turbines, versus 22% who aren't, according to polling by the think tank More In Common.
A UK government survey finds more people in Britain would be happy to host onshore wind in their area than those who would not.
However, support wavers at a hyper-local level, with widespread local opposition to Nant Mithil and another planned for Powys called Garreg Fawr.
And these vocal minorities know the net zero policy is on the line at the Welsh elections in May.
They have also gained the support of the Campaign to Protect Rural Wales (CPRW). Its trustee, Jonathan Dean, says: "Onshore wind is quicker and easier to build, but we do have time to do this properly."
He asserts that Labour cannot take public support for its clean energy push for granted.
"If public displeasure continues to grow, and a political party intent on 'cancelling net zero' gains any power, we get the worst possible outcome. Net zero needs to maintain its 'social licence.'"
Who's winning the political climate battle?
Meanwhile, the industry is attempting to sweeten the deal, offering above-average, though voluntary, funding for local communities hosting energy infrastructure, in addition to jobs and training.
Jess Hooper from the trade body RenewableUK Cymru said: "For the areas around the wind farms themselves, there's community benefit funds, in excess of £6 million being realized annually."
"There's then the economic opportunity from jobs and economic growth that comes with it and investment into our rural heartlands that haven't seen such investment in many, many years."
'Next, it might be you'
Wherever the energy comes from, an explosion of new projects is in the pipeline to meet soaring demand.
This fact, combined with the upcoming elections, raises the stakes for the government to persuade people that the trade-offs are worth it.
As for the NIMBYs, one protester in Cardiff says: "Yes, we are NIMBYs, but also we don't understand why, when there are so many alternatives, they have to start destroying, basically un-messed with areas of countryside."
Nigel Dodman tells me: "I say that there's a new definition of NIMBY which is... 'Next, it might be you.'"
