the arrival of three wind turbines in this town does not please everyone

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Until Thursday October 10, 2024, everyone could go to the Bréhan town hall (in Morbihan) to give their opinion on the installation of three new wind turbines (which will measure 200 m high and must produce, in one year, the energy necessary for 17,500 people) on the territory of the municipality. The site chosen for this establishment is located on an agricultural plateau to the south of the town.

de Bréhan, at a place called Landes de la Grenouillère.

Three “new wind turbines” because Bréhan is already well surrounded by numerous “mills”. This is also one of the arguments that often comes up in the mouths of opponents of the project. “ The town is already completely surrounded by a significant quantity of wind turbines, writes this resident for example in the list of grievances of the public inquiry. At some point you have to know how to say STOP. The territories of Central Brittany are being sacrificed for the benefit of more touristy areas.”

A site formerly classified as “very unfavorable” to wind power

For the association Sites and Monumentscreated in 1901 and whose aim is to defend French territory against all kinds of attacks, this new installation of wind turbines is nonsense. The association already points out the choice of the site, which had been classified “very unfavorable” in a previous study on wind power and which had not been selected by Pontivy Community in its wind development zone at the time. The association also criticizes the project leaders (the Valeco group, Pontivy Community and the Bréhan town hall) for refer to the regional wind power plan of 2012… which was canceled then by the administrative courts seized by numerous associations.

Finally, Sites and Monuments regrets that the agricultural and tourist landscape is not being preserved: “The site selected is at the center of an important hydrographic network which makes it attractive. The Linked to the east, the Oust to the south and the West, the canal from Nantes to Brest with its rich river heritage. »

“Does Bréhan need to sacrifice more landscape and agricultural land for the benefit of financial arrangements? »

To this argument, Jean Guillot, mayor of Bréhan responds that initially there should have been four wind turbines. “And we removed one which was indeed too close to the canal and could pollute the landscape.”

On the list of grievances of the public inquiry these are many farmers who oppose this project. Like this one who denounces “the nuisance to cattle» and fears for the resumption of agricultural operations in the next 5 years.

For this other family, who went to the town hall to make their opposition known, “ the good renewable energy is the sun not wind power.” Organic dairy cow and pig breeders, they fear the effects of mini-tournamentsand warming of the air that wind turbines can generate and the electromagnetic impact on their animals. They would have liked geobiological studies to be carried out “on seismic faults and stray currents” and their consequences “which we see every day in the media: cancers, dieback, loss of production, death of animals, etc. What future for young people who are settling in?»

Anecdotal financial return for Bréhan

Arguments dismissed by the project leaders in their presentation, referring to “a series of studies established by

independent expert opinions which were carried out without establishing a causal link”.

On the choice of wind power rather than solar power, the mayor of Bréhan also recalls that the production of a wind turbine “corresponds to 7 hectares of solar panels on the ground! ».

Another criticism that we can read in the public inquiry: “Does Bréhan need to further sacrifice landscape and agricultural land for the benefit of financial arrangements? » For Jean Guillot, whose municipality will be a 5% shareholder (compared to 45% for Pontivy Communauté and 55% for the Valeco group), the financial return is anecdotal for Bréhan. “Our goal is not financial, but to take our part in the necessary production of renewable energy . »

After the public inquiry period, the investigating commissioner is responsible for carrying out thesummary of observationsthen transmitted to the project leaders who must submit a response report. The commissioner's summary must be made within 8 days following the end of the investigation. The report should therefore have been submitted on October 18. But for the moment, the Bréhan town hall has still not received it. The procedure then provides for thetransmission of the file to the prefecturewho must grant or not the environmental authorization request, possibly accompanied by requirements.

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