The day after the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Emmanuel Macron visited the first French wind farm, in Saint-Nazaire. In process since 2008, the project has finally completed the installation of its 80 wind turbines, which should be operational before the end of the year. With a power of slightly less than 500 megawatts, the site should supply 20% of the electricity consumption of the Loire-Atlantique department.
This large-scale project is the spearhead of France’s renewable energy strategy, an area in which the country lags behind its neighbours. In 2020, France was thus the only country in the European Union that did not reach the threshold of 23% renewable energy in its gross final energy consumption, with 19.1%. For this reason, Emmanuel Macron has chosen this place to outline the main lines of the bill for the acceleration of renewable energies that will be presented this Monday in the Council of Ministers.
Temporary measures during the first four years of application
The first elements of the text had already been released in August when it was distributed to actors in the sector, including the National Council for the Ecological Transition (CNTE). The bill consists of 20 articles and includes, in particular, temporary measures over four years. Among them, a systematic environmental evaluation that would be applied from higher thresholds, a simplified compatibility of urban planning documents or even the extension of citizen participation by electronic means to more projects.
While Emmanuel Macron has notably set a target of 50 offshore wind farms by 2050 and 100 gigawatt solar power, the bill is intended to speed up the examination of renewable energy development projects. On average, these projects are completed after five years due to delays in ensuring compliance with environmental law, public law, and energy law.
Accelerate renewable energy development projects
Regarding photovoltaic projects, the bill aims to address the prohibition of the installation of panels 75 or 100 meters from abandoned roads and highways. It also aims to facilitate this installation in degraded areas such as old landfills. The text also provides for the construction of photovoltaic shutters in more than half of the surface of the existing outdoor car parks of more than 2,500 square meters. In these two axes combined, the installed power could reach 20 gigawatts.
To develop offshore wind energy, the government is aiming for a reduction in public debates that, henceforth, would refer to an entire seafront and would no longer be carried out on a project-by-project basis. Given the recurring criticism of the residents of these facilities, the text proposes the introduction of a preferential rate for access to electricity.
sources of concern
The renewable energy acceleration bill still raises some concerns, particularly from the side of environmental defense associations. Some believe in particular that this desire to speed up the issue is not detrimental to biodiversity-related issues or to public participation in discussions that might be too general.
Symbol of these fears: article 6 of the text that provides that certain facilities be considered as “of great public interest” and thus more easily obtain an exception to the obligation to protect species. Expected in just over a month, parliamentary debates around the bill are likely to be spirited.
Source: BFM TV
