It is a thirty-kilometer long course that emerged from the ground, connecting more than fifteen municipalities between Avelin (Nord) and Gavrelle (Pas-de-Calais). A route marked by 78 pylons at very high voltage, new generation, resembling the masts of a boat.
Suspended several tens of meters above the ground, two circuits will make it possible to deploy 4,600 megawats in 530 municipalities of the region. The first part was put into service on Friday, November 19.
Provide three times more electricity
For Cyril Wagner, director of the Avelin / Gavrelle project of the electricity transport company (RTE), it was a project that had become essential: “Until now there was only one circuit capable of supplying 1,500 megawatts. Today, there are two that will supply three times as much. the Hauts-de-France “.
Under these new high voltage pylons live the inhabitants of seventeen municipalities, divided on the arrival of this new line. “Honestly, it’s not very pretty, I don’t understand why they didn’t bury it “, sighs Sandra, inhabitant of Tourmignies.
Less magnetic fields emitted
“I don’t mind that, the current has to flow. We already had a high voltage line, they are just replacing it”, answers Dany, who lives in Tourmignies.
Some residents also fear that this very high voltage line, three times more powerful than the previous one, could have harmful effects on health because of electric and magnetic fields.
Faced with this concern, Cyrile Wagner director of the Avelin / Gavrelle project of the company RTE highlights the study carried out by the project health commission. “According to the latest studies, this new line emits three times less magnetic and electric fields than the old line. In addition, the environmental impact is also greatly reduced thanks to the narrow base of the new pylons.”
The judicial standoff is still ongoing between the electricity transmission company and opponents of the project. The work will end definitively next June with the deposition of the old high voltage line.