• A gigantic wind farm must be built off Dunkirk by 2027.

  • Local political parties opposing the project have called for a local referendum.

  • The Minister of Ecological Transition refused and confirmed the continuation of the project.

They got caught up in the wind. This Monday, the Minister of Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, was visiting Dunkirk for a visit on the theme of offshore wind power. It is indeed off this northern port city that a gigantic wind farm. A project against which several political parties in the urban community have protested by demanding, in particular, a local referendum. There won't be any.

The day before the minister's visit, local representatives of La France Insoumise (LFI), Le Modem, Le Mouvement des Citoyens (MdC), Le Nouveau center (NC), Les Républicains (LR) and L'Union des Centristes and Ecologists (UCE) reiterated with insistence their request to organize a local referendum on the project of offshore wind farm.

“The stakes are such that nothing can be built without the agreement and the full participation of the French.

Would we be second-class citizens on the Dunkirk coast?

“, They ask in a joint statement.

A project far from unanimous

Among other arguments against this project, opponents advance its construction in a "Natura 2000 Zone", the "destruction of the landscape" with an "attack on biodiversity", not to mention the "exorbitant costs". And, apart from this particular project, it seems that wind power is no longer welcome in Hauts-de-France. Several candidates in the regional elections have already expressed their fed up with seeing forests of winged colossi growing in the countryside, starting with the outgoing regional president, Xavier Bertrand.

Another blocking point put forward by the opponents concerns our Belgian neighbors.

The park must be located at the limit of their territorial waters and this does not really please them, especially because of the visual impact.

According to AFP, the mayor of the Belgian tourist town of De Panne, near the French border, has promised to oppose "by all means possible to the building permit".

Conversely, in 2013, the inhabitants of the French town of Halluin had started to complain about the nuisance caused by Belgian wind turbines installed just across the border, in Menen.

Complaints that went unanswered.

" I am determined "

However, Barbara Pompili does not intend to slow down the development of this mode of energy production.

"We are ready to confirm our ambition for what will soon become the 7th offshore wind farm in our country," she declared on Monday morning in Dunkirk.

"I am determined that we will finally accelerate the deployment of this future-oriented technology," added the Minister.

For her, the obligatory public debate upstream of this project is sufficient.

"We are not going to start asking for a referendum every time we have a project that is in the process of being completed," said Barbara Pompili in comments collected by AFP.

The future wind farm, located on 50 km² 10 km from the coast, will be built by the EDF renewable group, Innogy and Enbridge.

By 2027, it will include 46 wind turbines, 225 to 300 meters high, for 600 MW of capacity.

This park will be able to supply the equivalent of one million households according to the ministry.

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  • Energetic transition

  • Barbara pompili

  • energy

  • Dunkirk

  • Wind turbine

  • Planet