Already rich - even "
invaded
" for some - by dozens of wind turbines on dry land, the Charente-Maritime sees with suspicion the project, by 2030, of a wind farm in the open sea off the coast of the island of Oléron.
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When the interministerial committee for the sea decided in January 2021 to refer the matter to the public debate commission, the project concerned a park with a power of 500 to 1000 MW, over an area of 320 km2 about ten kilometers at sea at southwest of the island of Oléron.
Or 50 to 80 wind turbines.
Finally, when the public debate opened last September, the State proposed a second park, with a power of 1,000 MW, pushing the sea area to 743 km2 about thirty km off the islands of Ré and Oléron.
In 2016, before its launch, this project was hoped for at the local level, with the promise of around a hundred jobs created.
But at that time, he was talking about an area of only 120 km2.
But its extension, given the government's plans to
Especially since with 131 wind turbines on the mainland – nearly 350 if all the projects succeed – the countryside of the department is “
invaded
” by wind power, fulminates Michel Broncard, president of the Vent de Anger association.
Less than 10 days from the report of the debates, only the agglomeration community of La Rochelle was in favor of the offshore park, arguing the necessary contribution of the territories to the preservation of the climate but accompanied by recommendations, guaranteed for the environment, etc.
The association Ré Avenir, dedicated to climate issues on the Ile de Ré, defends it but redesigned, for a "
park installed about 40 km from the coast and 70 m deep
“, pleads its president Isabelle Vétois.
On the other hand, it is no for the community of communes of the island of Ré, "
no, but
" for Oléron, according to its president Michel Parent, "
it is not a brutal refusal but a refusal of the current file in the natural park
”.
A “wind industrial zone”
Because this marine territory is very protected, in ZPS and ZSC protection zones for its birds, its fauna and its flora.
The future park, classified as a Natura 2000 area since 2009, is also an integral part of the Marine Natural Park of the Gironde estuaries and the sea of Pertuis, which runs from the Gironde to the Vendée.
"
Since the creation of the first national nature reserve in 1976, the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) has been working to protect these places
", chokes the Rétais Dominique Chevillon.
Vice-president of the LPO, he recalls that "
the State entrusted us with the management.
And there, he completely changes his doctrine to propose a marine wind industrial zone in the middle!
Right on a bird migration route of European importance!
Even though the Pertuis Charentais area is a nursery for fish!
".
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A NEMO collective (Non à l'Éolien Marin à Oléron) has launched a petition to denounce these "
giant wind turbines (4 times the height of the Cordouan lighthouse, 50 m higher than the Montparnasse Tower)
".
For fishermen too, the planned area is "
a privileged work area located almost right in front of the Cotinière, the largest fishing port in Charente-Maritime
", says the daily Sud Ouest Philippe Micheau, the president of the departmental fisheries committee.
Fishermen fear the definitive ban on casting their nets there.
"
It's not up to the fishermen to adapt to the wind farm, but to the park to adapt to us
", he says again.
The Departmental Council for its part "
refuses the debate as it is"
“, says the elected DVD Jean Prou, president of the Marine Natural Park, “
we want the State to present a precise project, with the number of propellers, their location, the technology adopted and that the environmental impacts are really measured
” .
