EDF Énergies Renouvelables has given up on its plan to install around forty wind turbines in the south-west of Creuse, around Saint-Pierre-Bellevue. In question: the discovery, on this territory, of the presence of a rare species of bats: the Great Noctule.
As with every wind project, the community of Creuse Sud-Ouest communes has been the scene of clashes between the pros and the anti. The inhabitants hope that with the decision of EDF, appeasement will return after several years of tension.
At the town hall of Saint-Pierre-Bellevue, one of the towns concerned by the installation project, the city council voted against, but opinions were divided between elected officials. Jean-Louis Binette, 2nd deputy, farmer, was more in favor, but he agreed with the majority opinion “I respect the vote, that’s how it is, democracy is there…”
And yet, it was not the town’s negative vote that sounded the death knell for the wind project, but the discovery, in 2021, of a rare species of bat on the site: the Great Noctule.
It’s good this argument which made EDF back downproject leader.
Even if the opponents united in the VITHEC association (Living peacefully and happily in Creuse)they have theirs: “I don’t believe it. It has ridiculous profitability. It’s called ‘clean energy’, whereas the carbon footprint is catastrophic for wind turbines, just like for photovoltaic panels. It’s not the solution! “says Jean-Claude Chapeymond.
In Vidaillat, another village in the community of communes, we show our disagreement … to opponents. Near an anti-wind sign, another banner has been installed, on which one can read “Yes to wind turbines. Well done. 20/20”
Nicolas Lebas, deputy mayor of Vidaillat, claims it: “All these people who put up banners do not want wind power, photovoltaics, nuclear… But they are very happy, on returning home, to have light… So, we have put up a sign Yes!”
The municipalities of the territory remain, even today, divided between those who see in wind power a possible source of energy and income, and those who are already watching with concern for the arrival of new projects.