France’s renewables industry has called on President Emmanuel Macron to intervene in a dispute between French fishermen in Brittany and the planned 496MW St Brieuc offshore wind farm.
“The subject of renewable energies, and in particular wind power, is increasingly held hostage by sterile debates, animated by organisations opposed to the energy transition and by political actors who manipulate public opinion by stirring up false fears,” the French Wind Energy Association and the Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables (SER) said in open letter to the president.
The letter was also signed by elected officials, representatives of local communities and environmental activists.
French Wind Energy Association president Nicolas Wolff said: “The energy transition is a serious and strategic subject for our country.
“It cannot take place in such a climate of mistrust, even of excess, where disinformation and certain political agendas prevent all rationality.”
The Brittany Regional Fisheries Committee, which claims the Saint Brieuc project will damaged scallop deposits, has gone on the offensive in recent weeks.
It said in a statement on 20 November that fishermen will do all they can to halt the €2.4bn project, following the end of consultation on the development.
The group could not immediately be reached for further comment on its plans to oppose the project, which is fully owned by Spain’s Iberdrola and is due for commissioning in 2023.
Iberdrola-owned Ailes Marines, the project developer, said in a statement on 20 November that “professional fishermen” had taken part in the consultation over the proposed site of the wind farm in 2010, under the aegis of the Regional Sea and Coastal Conference.
“The project was designed in such a way as to allow navigation and fishing activities to be maintained within the park,” the company said.
“Ailes Marines avoided the main deposit, located in the southern part of the tender area, by choosing to locate its project 6km further north, on part of the secondary scallop deposit known as the Large Deposit,” it added.
Pile installation at Saint Brieuc is scheduled to start in the first half of 2021.
Saint Brieuc is one of the most technically challenging offshore projects, with a large part of the seabed made up of extremely hard rock and challenging sea conditions including a tidal range up to 12 metres.