Meeting the needs of the local and global environment

 

As wind power has developed as a means of combating climate change, France has seen more wind farms starting up in areas where the technology had not penetrated before. Since 2006, there has been a shift towards inland regions such as Picardy, Lorraine and Champagne-Ardenne. The biggest potential in the coming years is likely to be in the north and north east.

 

The Saint Aubin wind farm is one of 21 constructed over the last few years in the Meuse department of Lorraine, in the north-east of France. With a combined capacity of 302 MW they can supply more electricity than required by all the households in Meuse.

 

Saint Aubin was developed jointly by a local businessman and the Spanish power company Ibredrola. “The site was chosen because it had a good exposure to wind, was far from houses and had low environmental sensibility,” says Jean-Luc Pigeon of the wind turbine supplier Nordex.

 

In a move aimed at ensuring that wind farms are accepted by people living in the countryside, the government has introduced the concept of Zones de Developpement de l’Eolien (Wind Development Zones). These are areas where wind power is specifically encouraged, and incentives are granted in the form of feed-in tariffs.

 

Wind farms bring numerous environmental benefits, including the saving of carbon dioxide emissions and pollution from sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide resulting from the burning of fossil fuels. During 2008, according to France Energie Eolienne, the emission of a total of 1.65 million tonnes of CO2 was avoided by French wind farms.