Spatialisation et territorialisation du grand éolien en France : le gigantisme contre l’utopie ?

Abstract

Before appearing on the public policy agenda at the turn of the century, renewable energies were initially promoted by actors proposing an alternative project for society. Deeply monopolistic, centralised and polluting, nuclear energy was then castigated in favour of a diversity of renewable energies (conviviality, democratic, ecological). Today, the technical characteristics of these energies have changed profoundly. Wind power, originally tinkered with by small groups, is becoming a real industry in the pursuit of gigantism. This article shows that the unequal spatialization and the imposed and conflicting territorialization of this energy are contrary to the initial aspirations. Modern wind energy is initially concentrated in certain sparsely populated agricultural areas, whereas it was supposed to bring production closer to consumption. Moreover, in the municipalities where large wind turbines are developing, the working class is are over-represented and the middle-upper class under-represented. Furthermore, wind turbines have moved from techniques integrated into the natural environment to technologies that are spatially excluded from it. Finally, the definition of objectives by the State, the injection of electricity into the national grid and the technological monopoly of techno-industrial groups deprive local populations of a real appropriation. In many ways, renewable gigantism is incompatible with a project of social emancipation.

Keywords

• Energy transition
• Renewable energy
• Wind turbine
• Conflicts
• France