Le Figaro Lyon
“A total withdrawal”
.
Laurent Wauquiez (LR) announced this Friday the disengagement of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region that he chairs from any wind project.
Presenting an investment of 12 million euros from his community in favor of carbon-free energies, he explained that he wanted to strongly develop the installation of photovoltaic panels in this area.
“Our ambition is to make Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes the first European region in terms of carbon-free energy by building on an already exemplary situation to build the network of tomorrow, in order to benefit from inexpensive and better electricity. for the environment
,” declared the president of the community which benefits from major Alpine hydroelectric installations.
After hydrogen, of which he has become a fervent promoter, Laurent Wauquiez therefore wishes to
“massively develop”
photovoltaics.
To do this, the region will recapitalize the Oser fund, named after this public-private partnership between the regional council, the Banque des Territoires and other private actors, intended to support the development of renewable energies.
An investment worth 12 million, for a fund capitalized today at 20 million.
“I don’t want wind turbines”
Euros intended to be small since the fund will double the stake and
“the effect of the partners' levers makes it possible to multiply the initial public investment by 10”
, according to the Region.
To reach 6.5 gigawatts of production in 2030 –
“the consumption of a million inhabitants”
, praises Laurent Wauquiez – and 13 gigawatts by 2050, compared to 2.2 today.
With a firm counterpart requested from the Oser fund, that of stopping any wind project, even though it has supported four in recent years.
He also recently withdrew from the one which was to see the light of day in the Drôme valley, as documented by
Médiacités
.
“I don’t want wind power
,” insisted the regional president, who has been expressing his opposition to this production for years.
This is an ecological contradiction in a region like ours which is a mountain region, with an impact on landscapes and biodiversity.
Not to mention the artificialization of the soil by the concrete tanks that they induce.
Solarize the roofs of high schools and social housing
Laurent Wauquiez promises that regional photovoltaic panels will not artificialize agricultural land but will be anchored there, as shade houses for arboriculture or pastoralism for example.
Above all, Thierry Kovacs (LR), his vice-president in charge of positive ecology, wants to develop panels on the roofs of public buildings.
“We want to solarize 300 high schools and 600,000 social housing units
,” he promises.
In the community of municipalities that I chair in Vienne (Isère), we were the first HLM office to have made all of our roofs available and our 6,000 homes produce electricity for 6,500 homes
.
Also read: Laurent Wauquiez, Xavier Bertrand, David Lisnard… The ball of LR ambitions at the heart of the peasant crisis
This development of solar energy will be accompanied by small projects for hydraulic power plants, methanization and even geothermal energy, assures the executive.
Everything except wind power.
“Ecology must be linked to beauty and I find it hard to think that sustainable development should condemn us to degrading the landscapes
,” the regional president reiterated.
The opportunity for Laurent Wauquiez to vilify his environmentalist opponents without naming them, who, in Lyon however, are also developing solar power on roofs.
And to oppose
“punitive ecology”
and
“positive ecology”
.
“We do not want an ecology of prohibition but of innovation
,” reiterated Thierry Kovacs.
If he once accepted certain projects, along the highway for example, the regional president again recalled that his community is now opposed to all wind projects on its territory, even those led by other communities, by supporting the appeals against them.