While the projects for wind farms are multiplying and are even starting to materialize on the Atlantic coast and in the English Channel, in the Mediterranean, another technology will have to be favored. Indeed, the waters are too deep for installed wind turbines. Floating will therefore prevail.
Three pilot farms with 3 wind turbines each should be set up off the Mediterranean coast in 2022-2023. But discussions around the installation of much more powerful parks (250MW against 24 to 30 MW for pilot projects) in the Gulf of Lion have already started. The public debate is also in progress, until October 31, 2021, and the consultation receives “a very positive reception” according to Etienne Ballan, chairman of the special debate committee, questioned by AFP.
Fear of loss for biodiversity
According to him, the public shows “an appetite for environmental issues and energy” . And while the disputes are strong around the wind farms posed, especially in Saint-Brieuc, but also in Calvados or in the North, for the moment here, “we are far from ‘an opposition for or against ”, he assures us, but rather in“ nuanced questions ”.
“Many wonder if the game is worth the candle and point out the fragility of the Mediterranean environment, he explains. Climate objectives must not lead to a loss of biodiversity. “ During a public debate meeting on September 29, 2021, one of the participants illustrated this in-between.
“Gigantism” of the installations
An aeronautical engineer from Toulouse so said “wrapped” by the projects. But “in love with the sea” , he emits “reservations” since he saw a photomontage of the project. Indeed, the “gigantism” of the installations, “almost as high as the Eiffel Tower” (around 260m each in reality), in a space again “virgin” and “resourcing” , the surprised. So he would prefer them to be invisible, pushed back beyond the horizon line.
A participant denounces a “headlong rush”. “ We add up energies, but we never speak of a change in lifestyle, of sobriety “, she laments. “What about the end of life of equipment and its recycling?” asks another.
Possible evolutions
The timing is also in question, since discussions are starting even though the pilot farms are not yet operational. Participating in the videoconference debate, the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili tried to reassure: commercial wind turbines will not be built until four years after the pilot parks, “which may lead us to evolve “ on the more ambitious projects that were discussed today. For her, “pushing back again puts us in difficulty in the face of electricity needs “.
And concerning questions concerning biodiversity, she kicks into touch, estimating that the largest danger which threatens her “it is global warming” . However, wind turbines would be a response to fight against this warming. that the fifty or so wind turbines installed in each park will supply nearly 3 million inhabitants per year. renewable energy in 2030, to diversify its electricity production.
The summary of this public debate will be published in December 2021. The State should respond as early as March 2022, just a few weeks before the presidential election.
