A court of appeal in France has annulled the permit for the 226MW Mont des Quatre Faux wind farm in Ardennes.
The annulment comes due to the “visual saturation” of the 63-turbine wind power project being developed by EDF Renewables and Renner Energies.
Local groups in surrounding villages had raised objections to the €250m project, citing its impact on the landscape.
The Administrative Court of Appeal of Nancy noted that the wind farm is located on a “vast plateau composed of sparsely wooded agricultural land with wide views and few visual obstacles”.
This means visibility is high due to the large number of wind turbines within a radius of 10km already authorised in the area, the court said.
The turbines’ blade height would have been 200 metres.
The court noted that vegetation and reduction measures would not be able to hide the wind turbines to mitigate the “effects of encirclement and visual saturation” for nearby inhabitants.
It said the project “significantly aggravates the encirclement of the horizons of those villages bordering the wind farm”.
ReNEWS has reached out to EDF Renewables for comment.