The subject was surprisingly invited to the regional, it is on track to win in the presidential election.
Six months before the ballot, when the problem of France's energy dependence is back in force, especially in a context of soaring oil and gas prices, a wind of rebellion seizes part of the political class on the issue. wind turbines.
And this is a paradox.
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A real alternative to fossil fuels and to the development of nuclear power plants, the large white masts with gigantic blades that have flourished over the past twenty years in our fields (8,700 spread over nearly 2,000 parks) are igniting the debates and today have some opponents. notorious, particularly on the right and the extreme right. Their detractors range from Xavier Bertrand, who proposes a moratorium to stop any new construction, to Marine Le Pen, who wants to “take them all down”, passing by Eric Zemmour, for whom “wind turbines are a disaster because they damage the landscape ", And Michel Barnier, who expresses his" skepticism ".
On the left and on the environmental side, on the contrary, we want to accelerate their development, especially if the country wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, in accordance with the objectives set by the Paris agreements.
What about Emmanuel Macron in all of this?
Faithful to his legendary “at the same time”, he prefers at this stage not to get too wet, defending pragmatism and “case by case”.
The executive denounces the "easy demagoguery" but also the "drifts" of the past
On this subject, the state of opinion, ambivalent, has not escaped the President of the Republic.
Admittedly, 73% of French people have a positive image of wind energy, according to a recent Harris Interactive survey commissioned by Ademe, but they are 53% not to blame next to their homes according to an Odoxat poll. Backbone Consulting published at the end of September in Le Figaro.
“We must respond in a credible and responsible manner.
Be careful not to give in to easy demagoguery, ”warned the Head of State on October 6, in the secrecy of a meeting at the Elysee Palace with Prime Minister Jean Castex and the Minister for the Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili.
The next day, this is precisely the message sent by the president of the Renewable Energies Union (SER), Jean-Louis Bal, on the occasion of his annual conference during which he considered that they "have become an object. eminently political and are victims of an often caricatured instrumentalisation ”.
In short, the executive is aware that the subject is becoming highly flammable.
He also intends to correct certain errors.
“I understand that the rapid transformation of a certain number of landscapes could have caused misunderstanding, even anger
(…).
Certain abuses that may have taken place in the past can no longer take place, ”admitted Barbara Pompili on October 5, on the occasion of the presentation of the ten measures“ for responsible and controlled development of wind power ”.
According to him, a third of the authorization request files have thus been refused since his arrival at the ministry in July 2020, for reasons of threat to biodiversity or because they gave a feeling of being surrounded around the villages.
The risk of a "blackout"
“But if we consider that the Paris agreements must be respected, there is no choice: we must reduce our share of consumption of fossil fuels
(oil and gas)
and, therefore, increase our share of electricity.
Either nuclear or renewable.
There is no alternative to this scenario, ”warns those around him.
And to recall another piece of data: our fifty-six aging reactors, while RTE, the operator of the electricity transmission network, at the same time forecasts a 20% increase in demand for electrical energy by 2035.
“Knowing that it takes at least ten years, at best, to build a new plant, we must inevitably move towards a faster solution to anticipate this increase.
It can only go through wind turbines or photovoltaics.
Otherwise, France takes the risk of experiencing a blackout, ”we warn.
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This is also the message that Emmanuel Macron should try to convey himself in the coming weeks, after RTE's last consolidated report, expected on October 25, on future electricity needs.
“This document will undoubtedly shed light on the challenges ahead of us,” anticipates an advisor.
And good luck for the oppositions, who are going to have a hard time holding their line after this.
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