It was to break the locks and facilitate the deployment of wind turbines on our territory. But ultimately, the law of acceleration on renewable energies, promulgated discreetly on March 10 in the midst of the debate on pensions, does not arouse much enthusiasm within the sector. “Professionals pretend to rejoice when in fact they say worse than to hang on to this text, which provides for a new layer of bureaucracy”, explains Cédric Philibert, associate researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri). In the crosshairs of specialists, the notion of visual saturation. Added in commission on the initiative of the ecologist Delphine Batho, it aims to prevent the installation of forests of masts disfiguring the landscape. But the article that mentions it is not precise enough and opens the door to numerous disputes. Another measure pointed out, the definition of acceleration zones, which the municipalities must identify after consultation with the public authorities and have validated by a general energy council. This process is considered too cumbersome. “This risks delaying certain projects. In the event that acceleration zones do not yet exist, elected officials will not take the risk of authorizing the placement of wind turbines”, warns Cédric Philibert.
These counter-productive additions do not make the expert very optimistic: “We already have champions of blocking and disinformation on the subject of wind energy in France.” Not to mention a lack of staff in the prefectures to deal with files and calls for tenders which are always very clear. The very last, which targeted 925 megawatts ended in disaster: barely 54 megawatts of projects were selected by the Ministry of Ecological Transition. The reason ? Many actors had not taken into account a new provision, for lack of having understood it!
The time has come to accelerate. Wind power remains, along with solar, the most effective means of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, believe the authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Moreover, France can only rely on a limited part of its nuclear fleet due to the plant renovation program and corrosion problems. “Future EPR reactors will not be operational for a good fifteen years. We should work hard on renewable energies in case these new installations do not arrive as quickly as expected”, estimates Cédric Philibert, worried about the difficulties encountered. at the Flamanville site.
Wind turbines to finance radars?
In his Belfort speech in February 2022, Emmanuel Macron set an ambitious course. He wants France to deploy 50 offshore wind farms by 2050 for an installed capacity of 40 GW. The Head of State also plans to double the capacity of onshore wind power. A wishful thinking? “We will have a more precise vision of the situation in a few months, explains Nicolas Ferellec, manager of offshore wind turbines for the center for studies and expertise on risks, the environment, mobility and development (Cerema) The strategic documents drawn up this year will draw a first map for our entire coastline. They will tell us in which areas calls for tenders could be launched over the next decade. Then, in 2024, the multiannual programming of the energy will stop the calendar.”
But on the ground, you will have to play tight and use all the levers, including the most surprising. “In onshore wind power, a provision of the Acceleration Law that received little media coverage opens up an interesting avenue by giving the developer of a field the possibility of co-financing additional military radars. Thus, we could reduce the disruptive effects of wind turbines and therefore deploy it on surfaces that are currently prohibited for defense reasons”, says Cédric Philibert. This device would attenuate the saturation observed in certain regions. But is consultation possible with the army? Nothing is certain yet.
“The greatest potential for wind energy is located at sea”, relativizes Anna Creti, professor of economics at the University of Paris Dauphine-PSL, scientific director of the Economics of natural gas chair and the Economics of climate. Not only are there fewer disputes, but the performance of the facilities is also higher. So far, France has not been able to take advantage of it. The first offshore wind farm located in Saint-Nazaire took twelve years to see the light of day. “However, over the years, several measures have been taken to take into account past experience and go faster,” notes Nicolas Ferellec.
The law for the acceleration and simplification of public action (Asap) of 2020 makes it possible to discuss deployment in several areas simultaneously. It then gives seven years to the State to make calls for tenders. Result: extensions can emerge without launching new consultations. “Hence an acceleration of projects: we can already see it in the Mediterranean, in Oléron or in Brittany”, estimates Nicolas Ferellec. Another example of pragmatism is the recent reform of “authorizations with variable characteristics”. Specific to wind power, it stipulates that certain elements of a park may vary, while respecting the limits defined and the options allowed by the authorization. For example, the power of a turbine can rise to 15 megawatts instead of the 10 originally planned. The size or the number of masts could also evolve compared to the initial promise, but without modifying the total power of the park. “The Dunkirk site will be the first to benefit from this kind of authorization, which will allow it not to deprive itself of recent technologies”, explains the expert.
The size of the Eiffel Tower
Because turbines evolve rapidly. “In Saint-Nazaire we have deployed 6 megawatt wind turbines whereas what comes out of the factories today is more like 12″, notes Cédric Philibert. Future French parks will therefore have to get up to speed. Deployment will also require large investments in ports. For the moment, the latter are not equipped to handle large wind turbines, the most spectacular of which come close to the height of the Eiffel Tower. “It remains complicated to say what floating wind power will be like in France. However, several pilot farms launched in 2016 at the request of the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe) make it possible to test different technologies on a small number of turbines. feedback will be invaluable”, emphasizes Nicolas Ferellec.
A final boost could come from the development of contracts between the various players (State, manufacturers, consumers). “In the United Kingdom, the Netherlands or Spain, more incentive forms have been successfully tested, explains Anna Creti. They particularly promote the deployment of large wind turbine installations. In the future, they could be used more , including in France. We can also imagine manufacturers who coordinate to finance parks and then benefit from them.” Good news, the European Commission seems ready to promote these contractual innovations, due to the climate emergency. Another favorable wind for the industry.
This article is taken from the special issue “Energy transition: let’s invest together!” available on newsstands June 29.