Jacques Pernoud has “Fed up“wind turbines in the Lauragais park and the noise pollution that goes with it. After an incident, Saturday April 2 – a wind turbine blade broke and disintegrated on a plot – the retired farmer wrote to the prefect of the Haute-Garonne to ask him to stop the operation of three wind turbines which are, according to him, less than 500 meters from his home.In total, the Lauragais wind farm has 11 wind turbines, installed in 2009 and operated by the company Voltalia.
“These wind turbines are fragile and harmful”
Since Saturday April 2, walkers, cyclists and motorists are prohibited from driving near the wind farm. The mayors of the three municipalities where the wind turbines are located – Saint-Félix-Lauragais, Roumens and Montégut-Lauragais – have taken orders as a precaution, following the incident of the broken blade.
Not only does it make noise, banging, we have to keep the windows closed, but we can also see oil running down the masts, there are grease stains. They’ve already repaired the blades once or twice, that doesn’t reassure us. – Jacques Pernoux, resident of Saint-Félix-Lauragais
Jacques Pernoud criticizes a poorly maintained park, denounces landscape and noise pollution and describes the effects on his health: “there are five of us at home who are dizzy, we started legal proceedings when the park was installed, but we gave up, it cost too much.
Wind turbines: a financial windfall for municipalities
Alain Bourrel, the mayor of Saint-Félix-Lauragais, confirms that the wind farm continues to cause debate among local residents “in terms of noise and landscape pollution“, but he recalls that it is a significant financial contribution for the municipalities: “in terms of annual professional tax on the wind farm, it is around 80,000 euros for our municipality, thanks to this we have been able to finance the repair of the waste water network, drinking water, street surfacing from the heart of the village. The mayor of Roumens, Philippe Lasman explains that the professional tax, levied on this wind farm, has enabled his municipality and that of Montégut Lauragais to finance a wastewater treatment plant.
Following the destruction on Saturday of a wind turbine blade in the Lauragais park, the area is secure, the waste is being evacuated and a security guard is present on the site.. The manager, Voltalia, ensures that this is the first incident observed on a wind turbine of this type but the maintenance is ensured by General Electrics which must determine the origin of this breakage. The combination of unfavorable weather and a mechanical failure is considered.
According to our information, within two to three years, the motors of the wind turbines could be replaced, it is also planned to reduce the number of masts in this park to install larger and more efficient wind turbines.