Since 2017, a collective has been campaigning for the installation of a small urban and citizen wind farm in Nantes.
He asks the metropolis to carry out a feasibility study on the land he has identified, not far from the boulevard de la Prairie de Mauves.
They will be 150 meters high, a little more than the Bretagne tower, and will be the “totem” of a project described as “crazy, innovative and unique”.
Gathered in a collective called Nanteol, citizens dream of seeing wind turbines grow in Nantes, in the heart of the city, as there are already elsewhere in Europe.
“We think that city dwellers must also do their part to contribute to the energy transition, assures Thomas Soulard, the president of this association bringing together around thirty members and 150 supporters.
These wind turbines will be a new, useful marker.
We are not afraid to say that they will see each other, that's the goal!
»
If this engineer does not speak in the conditional, it is because he firmly believes in his project, which could cover the electricity consumption of some 8,000 inhabitants.
Born in 2017 after the great debate on the energy transition organized by Nantes Métropole, the "apolitical" collective mainly composed of professionals and enthusiasts of renewable energies also ensures that it has found the ideal site to set up two or even three wind turbines.
“We know that we will have opposition anyway”
"We took into account all the constraints: housing [and in particular the minimum distance of 500 m], roads, high voltage lines... And we arrived in this area to the east of Nantes, located between the boulevard of the Prairie-de-Mauves and the railway line, details Jean-Claude Quinton, the secretary of the association, who defends himself from possible nuisances.
It's an old dump, space now wasted.
No one comes for a walk there and there is already the incineration plant that exceeds…”
Like the citizen wind farm projects that have emerged in rural areas in recent years, Nanteol relies on its "technical solidity" and its "sense of dialogue" to move the file forward and raise awareness among its interlocutors, including local residents.
“We advocate the policy of softness, we explain.
We must not be too vindictive towards the public, because we know that we will have opposition anyway.
Students had conducted an acceptability study, with 85% favorable opinions.
To reassure, its members also recall that the initiative, the cost of which is estimated at 10 million euros (including 80% in borrowing), will be 100% public and citizen, with 700,000 euros to be raised from motivated inhabitants, who "will remain in the majority".
“We will push the study with them”
But the first actor to convince is for the moment Nantes Métropole, to which Nanteol asks the realization of a feasibility study.
“It's a complex project.
It would be interesting if Nantes could show that we can install wind turbines in the city", recently acknowledged Tristan Riom (EELV), in charge of energy in Nantes Métropole, who has set himself the objective of 100% renewable energies by 2050. “We are going to push the study with them, indicates the elected official.
It's an ambitious solution but it would obviously not be enough to meet the city's needs.
The issue is much broader.
»
On this site of the Prairie-de-Mauves, the metropolis hopes above all to see its project for a gigantic "urban ecology center", which includes in particular the extension of the waste collection center but also the construction of a platform for the treatment of bio-waste as well as a wastewater treatment plant.
With a place for the Nanteol wind turbines?
Not far from there, the community must also complete the construction of the ZAC Doulon Gohards and its 2,700 housing units, which is met with strong opposition.
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