on the Lure mountain, the photovoltaic war is declared

You have seen photovoltaic panels especially on the roofs of houses, in parking lots, in industrial zones, etc. But to decarbonize France, the government wants more, everywhere. So renewable energy companies have launched an attack on the great outdoors. Power stations in the middle of fields and forests, which sometimes arouse the anger of environmental activists. Yes, they are in favor of green energy to try to save the planet… but not like that.

In the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, for two years, the Elzeard Lure resistance collective has been trying to prevent the continuation of a construction site which, according to activists, would massacre the Lure mountain. Their enemy already occupies the land: the Cigalettes power station extends its 38,000 photovoltaic panels over 20 hectares. Built in 2015 by the Canadian company Boralex, it produces electricity for the equivalent of a town of 5,000 inhabitants.

For Sylvie Bitterlin, opening her shutters in the morning facing these “two huge scars that were made in the forest”, It is “every time a stab in the heart”. Environmental defenders had done everything to ensure that the power plant did not emerge from the ground. Once their legal appeals were exhausted, they attempted to physically block the start of the construction site. But they clashed with workers and the police.

“Do you want a chainsaw?”

The images filmed by the collective show a lumberjack threatening a “chainsaw blow” an activist who came to stand in front of a tree to prevent it from being cut down. “THE site manager came behind the loggers, says Sylvie Bitterlin, and said to them, ‘You cut it anyway’.” “We could be under a tree, they still cut it down,” adds another activist, Claudine Clovis. Karola, a member of the collective, was injured.

For five weeks, the collective increased their actions, until Sylvie Bitterlin and Claudine Clovis were arrested and placed in police custody. Ordered to pay fines and damages to Boralex, they appealed, determined to continue their fight for the Lure mountain. This corner of Provence already has around twenty power stations, and a dozen others are under construction or planned, in an area classified as a biosphere reserve by Unesco.

Excerpt from “The solar of fear”, a report to see in “Special Envoy” on April 25, 2024.

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