A few days before the transition to the year 2025, the Association for the Promotion and Preservation of Landscapes and the Environment of Soissonnais (A3PES) takes stock of the many wind projects currently under discussion in Soissonnais, even one a little further south.
Assessment of wind farms in Soissonnais
For the industrial wind project in the commune of Tartiers, located northwest of Soissons, “the prefect refused the project on the grounds, among other things, of covisibility of wind turbines with numerous historical monuments and impacts on biodiversity and heritage species that are largely undervalued,” explains the association. This involved building 6 industrial wind turbines with a blade tip height of 180 meters and a maximum unit power of 4.2 megawatts (MW). A delivery station and associated electricity transmission works were also planned.
Concerning the public inquiry into the installation of 8 wind turbines with a height of 180 meters at the end of the blade with a maximum power of 5.2 MW, two delivery stations and the construction of transport structures for the electricity thus produced in the municipalities of Pernant and Ambleny, there was “significant participation from the public and associations”. “The opinions were, in the vast majority, against the project and well argued.”
In Chaudun, there is also “significant participation in the new public inquiry, but exclusively on a dematerialized register.” The association notes that “not all citizens are comfortable with computers, this mode of consultation deprives us of their contributions”.
On Selens and Vézaponin, as well as on Armentières-sur-Ourcq, “both parties have filed their briefs at the Douai Court of Appeal and we are awaiting a date for the hearing”.
Finally, the wind project in Brenelle/Courcelles/Saint was refused by the prefect. The reasons given are, among others, co-visibility with historic monuments, the impact on the Chemin des Dames, and insufficient consideration of protected species. The NAUE association is preparing the response to the promoter’s probable appeal.
A very important decision of the Council of State
German wind energy lobbies have succeeded in imposing on Europe the notion of Imperative Reasons of Major Public Interest which allows them to evade national regulations. This translates in France into the removal of the protections established by the coastal law, the mountain law and the protection of endangered animal species and, as a result, any possibility of appeal by associations and individuals.
However, on April 18, 2024, “the Council of State, by judgment no. 471141, considered that a wind farm project does not meet an imperative reason of major public interest if it only provides ‘a modest contribution to the national energy policy of development of the share of renewable energies in final energy consumption in a department which does not suffer from any fragility of electricity supply and already has a large number of parks wind turbines. Certainly, the promoters consider that this is a simple “accident” due to the fact that the project was submitted before the European directive, however this constitutes an encouragement for the associations to continue their actions.
Join to fight better
In order to continue these actions against the sometimes anarchic development of the wind turbine industry in the center of the Aisne department, the A3PES association “we call on all our supporters to fight against this scourge, which affects all men, of all conditions: procrastination! It’s simple, join without delay at: https://www.helloasso.com/associations/a3pes-association-pour-la-promotion-et-la-preservation-des-paysages-et-de-l-environnement- du-soissonnais/adhesions/adhesion-2025 or by check made payable to A3PES, sent by post to Aurélie Liénart, treasurer of A3PES, at 6 Ferme of Maison Neuve, 02200 Chaudun. »
