In the Auvergne mountains, mayors remain torn over wind turbines and solar farms

In the villages of this region, as in other areas where nature is preserved, tedious debates still accompany each wind turbine or solar farm project, which partly explains the French delay. While the countries of the world collectively committed at the last COP to triple their renewable energy capacities by 2030, France persists in setting renewable targets lower than what the European Union requires.

Some projects are coming to fruition. In Haute-Loire, where a park of 26 wind turbines was installed in 2005 on the Margeride plateau, Jean-Louis Portal, the mayor of Ally, is pleased with the 40.000 euros per year that it brings into his commune, which finances free school transport.

A plan to renew the installations is underway: the new wind turbines "will be further away from homes, fewer in number but more powerful", explains the elected official.

Marc Olagnol, a farmer in the village, earns around 2.500 euros per year per wind turbine. Two are installed on land that he shares in a family company. He will lose one, but the new project will bring in around 5.000 euros per wind turbine.

"It's a supplement, but it doesn't provide a living," he says.

The more powerful the machines, the higher the income. According to several sources cross-checked by AFP, it can reach 12.000 euros per year for a farmer.

Elsewhere, the position of some elected officials, torn between opposition and the income generated by these installations, is untenable. Some have preferred to resign.

"Dying"

Francis Leblanc, former mayor of Valigny, a village of 390 inhabitants in Allier, paid the price.

Two wind turbines were to provide "additional income" to a farmer, while improving the finances of the municipality, i.e. around 20.000 euros per year for a potential investment of 100.000 euros.

"We don't have a factory, the school is in danger of closing, we are dying, all we have left is agriculture," the elected official justifies. But two of his deputies publicly opposed the project, so he "threw in the towel."

Not far from Auvergne, in Vers-sur-Méouge, a small village in Drôme, a 40-hectare photovoltaic park project on communal and forest land has sparked controversy.

"I was offered a project" that could have brought in between 150.000 and 200.000 euros per year, explains Mayor Alain Nicolas. "When you are the manager of a small town like ours, the resources are not huge, it makes you want to..."

"We live here in a little corner of paradise, this photovoltaic plant would be behind our homes and would harm our living environment," argued Elisa Fattier, spokesperson for the opposition group UniVers, during the debates.

"Wild landscapes"

Camille Reynaud, manager at Sonnedix - the project leader -, emphasizes that it is very "important" to obtain "a local consensus." By discussing "how we lead this type of project, how we insert it into the landscape, the studies we carry out, it generally makes things more flexible."

This time it was not enough: after a public meeting where opponents spoke out, the mayor decided to give up.

In the heart of the rolling landscapes of Combrailles (Puy-de-Dôme), in the villages of Montcel and Saint-Hilaire-La-Croix, a wind farm project was reduced after consultation from ten to three wind turbines due to "multiple constraints", particularly environmental, explains the initiator and mayor of Montcel, Grégory Bonnet. "The State services, with whom we worked, were not enthusiastic about this encirclement effect (...), particularly on the landscape part".

Since the renewable energy law adopted in 2023, the State intends to improve "local acceptability", in particular through a "mediator" in the event of disagreements and through a better sharing of profits.

However, in Montcel, the anger of some local residents has not subsided: Patrick Cohen, president of the association "A contre-vents" points out the impact on biodiversity, the light and noise pollution of the machines or the 1.600 tonnes of concrete needed for their construction.

"We live in the countryside, with wild landscapes, it is not to see wind turbines which disfigure them," he denounces.