It's a French paradox.
Despite its 3,500 km of coastline swept by regular winds, France is lagging behind in the field of offshore wind power.
Currently, the country has only one wind turbine in service, a prototype off Croisic (Loire-Atlantique) whose energy produced is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 5,000 inhabitants.
Compared to its neighbours, the French lag is considerable since 5,700 offshore wind turbines have been built in Europe over the last ten years.
World champion, the United Kingdom has more than 2,300 turbines, followed by Germany with 1,500 wind turbines built in the North Sea.
Appeals from residents concerned about the landscape, legal actions taken by environmental associations, criticism from fishermen, wind turbines are far from unanimous in France.
Latest example to date, a complaint filed on Tuesday, February 8, by two environmental defense associations with the European Commission against a project in the bay of Saint-Brieuc, in Brittany.
Launched in 2011 by the government, the construction of this wind farm has been the subject of numerous criticisms from ecologists who criticize it in particular for its proximity to a Natura 2000 site which is home to exceptional animal and plant fauna.
But according to the economist of marine energies, Sylvain Roche, joined by France 24, the explanation for this delay is mainly due to the place of nuclear power in France.
"During the first call for tenders for offshore wind power in 2003-2004, France launched the Flamanville EPR project. In the end, these two industries will be put into competition and France will miss out on learning about wind power at sea", explains the associate researcher at Sciences Po Bordeaux.
Change of method
Despite this abysmal delay and the reluctance of the population, Emmanuel Macron wanted to set a new course, Thursday, February 10, for offshore wind power at 40 GW produced in 2040. For comparison, the United Kingdom already has 10 GW of offshore wind generation capacity.
To win its bet, France will have to build around fifty parks.
"We will succeed by broadly involving all the actors of the sea, in particular fishermen", promised the Head of State, believing that "the fight for the climate should never be done to the detriment of the preservation of biodiversity. and in particular marine ecosystems and fisheries resources".
>> To see: Offshore wind power: France is going in circles
To speed up the pace, Emmanuel Macron wants to remove certain "regulatory barriers" but also devote a change of method with long-term project planning.
Requested for a long time by the sector, this planning must make it possible to precisely determine the location of future parks and to carry out consultations upstream to avoid blockages.
"We note that in all the European countries which have developed offshore wind power, the companies were chosen after all the appeals had been purged. In France, we first designated winners and then we had to additional studies, consultations, purging the appeals. It took much longer, "explains Michel Gioria, the general delegate of France wind energy (FEE), joined by France 24.
"It's a very ambitious goal," says Sylvain Roche, according to whom France could opt for the construction of floating wind turbines near wind farms posed, under construction.
"It would be a way of pooling and saving money in terms of cabling between parks and coastlines. Technological developments will also make it possible to put more powerful wind turbines into service", specifies the researcher.
Offshore wind power, which has been struggling for 10 years to get its head above water, is therefore on the way to catching up with some of its delay.
"There is no legal, technical or industrial reason why France cannot do it," hopes Michel Gioria.
"Domino Effect"
Especially since several parks, the construction of which was launched several years ago, will soon see the light of day, such as that of Saint-Nazaire which should start supplying the electricity network by the end of the year.
"The construction (of this park) can trigger a domino effect. Wind power is a symbol of the energy transition which is also a landscape transition", analyzes Sylvain Roche.
"Everyone says these wind farms are ugly but few people have gone to see them off the coast of Scotland or Hamburg. It will be an opportunity for the French population to see what it looks like and also for the authorities to finally have feedback on a French park in the Atlantic".
On the other hand, the President of the Republic has revised the ambitions of onshore wind power downwards, by providing for a doubling of capacities over 30 years rather than 10 years.
"Nobody wants to see remarkable landscapes or classified sites damaged by large white blades", he justified.
>> To see: Wind turbines in France: yes… but!
A big flat for the energy future of France, believes Michel Gioria.
"Reports from RTE [the operator of the electricity transmission network in France] show that in the short term, to meet the electricity needs, energy security and purchasing power of the French people, onshore wind power is the most effective solution", explains the general delegate of FEE.
The renewable energy sector ensures that it will put the issue of onshore wind power back on the table during the next multi-annual energy program (PPE) in 2023.
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