Ahen the bill on the acceleration of renewable energies is being discussed at the moment, the subject continues to create controversy without the conditions for a dialogue of trust between pro and anti seem to be met. Everywhere on the French coast, associations are formed with the aim of fighting against wind and marine projects (Dunkirk, Dieppe Le Tréport, Etretat, Courseulles-sur-mer, Barfleur, Belle-Ile en mer, Oléron, Ile d’ Yeu, Ouessant, Saint-Nazaire…), but also terrestrial, the list does not stop extending.
However, between the two parties (public authorities and wind power sectors on the one hand, associations and populations concerned on the other) communication is broken. It is based on a contest of infox and invective. However, there is an immediate and common-sense measure for the public authorities to appease people’s minds and reassure the territories concerned: commit to keeping any offshore wind farm project at least 50 km from the coast, as well as our neighbors such as Germany, Sweden or the Netherlands do.
This remoteness would present several decisive advantages, firstly the remoteness of the parks at 50 km from the coasts would preserve what can be of the coast. The first implantations of projects in progress encounter all the greater opposition as they are located too close to the coast (sometimes 10 km away) and as a result, will damage the landscapes as well as the natural and built heritage of these areas, and disrupt fishing activity. This is indisputable.
Indirect costs not taken into account
These parks have not yet emerged from land (or sea) but visual simulations reveal the power of their impact. This is why the Eolarge association was formed: to push the future Norman parks as far away as possible from the coast, in areas that do not alter the fishing conditions, the marine ecosystems, or the remarkable sites and fact, tourism.
Then, the remoteness of the parks 50 km from the coast would limit the impact on tourism and fishing. The costs of setting up sites near the coast are largely underestimated for lack of an impact study on the medium and long-term consequences on tourism and fishing.
The figures put forward by the public authorities and the wind power sector do not take into account the indirect costs or the negative externalities: drop in tourist numbers due to the loss of attractiveness of remarkable sites, drop in the profitability of fishing, drop in attractiveness of the territory, decline in pleasure and leisure activities, decline in the quality of life of the inhabitants…
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