Nuclear, wind, solar… Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher and ecologist Éric Piolle oppose their points of view

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Nuclear, wind, solar … Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the Minister Delegate in charge of Industry, and Éric Piolle, the Mayor of Europe Ecology – Les Verts de Grenoble, participated in the “debates of 8.30 franceinfo”, Friday February 11. They each defended their vision of French energy policy, the day after Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of a vast recovery plan for civilian nuclear power, with the construction of six to fourteen reactors for 2050. The president said also set the objective of providing France with around fifty offshore wind farms to “target 40 gigawatts in service by 2050”.

Nuclear :

It is “carbon-free energy”, underlined Agnès Pannier-Runacher. She also praised France’s expertise in this area. “Nuclear power plants, we have nevertheless built them successfully for years”what “explains that today, we are the country in Europe which is able to guarantee a level of electricity prices much lower than in our neighbours”she said. “Even if we do electrical sobriety”as Éric Piolle argues, “we will have to change our natural gas heaters for electricity, we will have to change our gasoline cars for electricity and that is why we need more electricity production”she pointed. “We are pragmatic and we are not in ideology”she said to the environmentalist.

“We find ourselves there with the speech of the technocrats of fifty years ago”replied Éric Piolle. “It’s the return to the VCR, Concorde and nuclear”he quipped, before hammering that “Nuclear is too slow and too expensive”. He thus took the example of the Flamanville EPR (Manche), “launched in 2006”who has “more than ten years late” on the date initially planned for its commissioning and of which “the price has been multiplied by six”. Emmanuel Macron “press the button saying ‘it will come out [les réacteurs] in 2040’, so in fact, it does not help this energy transition”, he added. He also wondered about the location of these future reactors. “Where are we going to put the future Fukushimas?”he launched.

Wind power:

The environmental candidate for president, Yannick Jadot promises to “going from 9,000 to 12,000 wind turbines” in France by 2027, recalled Éric Piolle, who is his special adviser in this campaign. “Wind farms, where it works, it’s because companies” who build them “work with communities, with elected officials, with residents”, he assured. They “Ask the inhabitants to invest, which means that the income from this delocalized energy is also for the territory”. So they “see what it’s for” and can enjoy “the balance of harm and benefit”.

“Today, the local content of these constructions is between 60 and 80% for the territories” and “those who build them have understood that it is part of the element of social acceptability”replied Agnès Pannier-Runacher. “The five offshore wind farms that are mentioned, if they have not yet started, it is because they have been the subject of repeated litigation”she explained. “Why did you vote against the law which speeds up the processing of litigation on offshore wind?”she blamed environmentalists.

Photovoltaics:

The observation made by Agnès Pannier-Runacher for wind power also applies to solar panels. “In France, with the public debate which is perfectly legitimate, it takes much longer to build a photovoltaic park”, she regretted. Regarding solar power, Emmanuel Macron has announced that he wants to multiply the installed power by nearly ten by 2050, thus aiming for 100 gigawatts.

“We cannot, for photovoltaics, have huge factory farms”, for his part estimated Éric Piolle. For him, they must be “smaller in size and anchored, there too, in the territory in terms of financing”. “We cannot let the renewable energy model be captured by a few who want to make a profit”. He also pleads for “a plan on the roofs”with solar panels installed on the roofs of the “shopping centers” and “of our car parks”.


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