Wind turbines are not really on the rise in Occitania. In the Tarn, the Aude but also the Haute-Garonne, the oppositions multiply. In Aignes, a small village of 250 souls, residents and elected officials do not want two wind turbines to be installed on private land in this municipality of Lauragais, south of Toulouse.
Mayors opposed to the project, residents divided
The inhabitants are divided on the usefulness of these two wind turbines, which are added to the seven existing in the same sector. “It spoils our view of the Pyrenees, it scares away animals, especially bats”, say some. “We have to produce electricity”, others say.
The mayors of Nailloux, Aignes, Montgeard and Saint-Léon are opposed to the project and wrote to the prefect of Occitanie to give their unfavorable opinion last May. “People who have built and would like to resell will have a big loss, no one will want to buy at the foot of a wind turbine”, annoys Gérard Roques, mayor of Aignes. The mayor of Nailloux, Lison Gleyses, denounces the methods of the promoter Abo Wind. “They didn’t come to discuss and they want to see the project through at all costs.”
“Going into controversy does not advance the energy transition”
Abo Wind says for his part that he has proposed a meeting date to the elected officials, but Lison Gleyses assures that an invitation had been launched for a municipal council and that it was declined. Abo Wind also held public meetings but canceled the one scheduled for July 6. The German company did not wish to do interviews with France Bleu Occitanie and only answered us by email. She indicates “that this type of meeting does not make it possible to transmit information and to establish a dialogue around the Sieuraguel wind project. The floor was monopolized by people opposed to wind power in general, who were able to express their reluctance and questions, without allowing us to answer them or present the elements related to the project (…) This is why we have decided to cancel the public meeting scheduled for Nailloux on July 6. The energy transition is materializing by the development of renewable energies, including wind power. Information about the wind farm that we are developing in Aignes is very important, but getting into controversy will not help this transition. We have of course heard the complaints of opponents, but the debate for or against wind power, for or against containing the temperature of the earth rises to another level ”
Wind power represents 10% of regional electricity production in Occitania in 2021 (down 2% compared to 2020) against 9% for solar (but which is +12% compared to 2020), 45% for nuclear and 31% hydraulic, according to the 2021 report of RTE Occitanie.