In a few days, a few hours perhaps, the small town of Echauffour (Orne), 740 inhabitants, nestled in the hollow of the Norman bocage, will find silence.
The five wind turbines of 2 MW each, installed here for almost two years, will all be shut down by prefectural decision.
This is a first in France.
It follows an acoustic study revealing noise pollution greater than those authorized.
“It's far from a victory but it will at least allow us to breathe a little, explains Fabien Ferreri, the spokesperson for the group of around twenty residents.
For two years, our life has been screwed up.
You have to understand: day and night, it's like having a plane in flight over the house.
We can't open the windows.
I haven't slept normally for two years.
"
“There, frankly, it's torture!
"
"And that, continues Fabien Ferreri, it is only
what we hear.
Because we also feel a kind of indescribable vibration in the walls and even in our bodies.
»His house is located exactly 570 m from the machines.
“I have nothing against wind turbines,” he says.
We just don't want them to impact our lives.
But there, frankly, it is torture.
Some residents have called me to tell me about hunger strike or suicide… because we can't even go away.
Our homes are unsaleable.
"
At the management of the operator, Voltalia (Mulliez group), we say we are stunned.
“Nothing has yet been notified to us by the prefecture.
But it all seems disproportionate.
We operate in 20 countries.
In France alone, we manage 25 parks.
And we have never experienced such a situation.
We are, of course, open to a third expertise but, above all, we must give ourselves time to do our work.
That is, to adjust our machines as we collect the data.
Each time we notice that a threshold is exceeded, we restrict our machines accordingly ”, assures the director of Voltalia France, Patrick Delbos.
"We abandoned our bed and breakfast project"
There is no impatience on the part of the municipality.
Of course, the wind farm guarantees an annual income of 17,000 euros for the municipality and no less than 40,000 euros for the community of municipalities, far from being negligible in rural areas.
“But we cannot be deaf to the suffering of our inhabitants, recognizes Anne-Marie Foubert, deputy mayor.
Some no longer sleep, many complain of headaches or tinnitus.
Frankly, it is not acceptable that people cannot hear themselves talking at home anymore.
Obviously, we are united.
"
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The machine shutdown measure is clearly provisional.
It should make it possible to measure any possible exceedances of the authorized sound thresholds and to force the promoter to “come within the norm”.
Whether that will be enough remains to be seen.
“I no longer believe it,” explains Aurélie Ganet, one of the residents.
I even dread rediscovering for only a few weeks what I have lost… Something has been torn from my life.
Poetry, the happiness of nature, the song of birds.
We abandoned our bed and breakfast project.
How do you now want to invite people to come and go green here?
"