In the Hautes-Alpes and the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, the dispute grows against the destruction of natural spaces to install photovoltaic panels.
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You have to climb at the top of the Epine hills, on the edge of the Provencal Baronnies Massif (Hautes-Alpes), to contemplate the extent of the deforestation. Here, the summits have been mowed. In sixty-three hectares, the forest of pines and oaks has given way to large expanses, some covered with solar panels, others still naked and riddled with holes, where the old trees were rooted.
Christian Marchal, market gardener a few kilometers away, finds something “moving” in this shaved landscape. “Look at these little oaks that try to repel, despite the drought and the heat wave. It takes to be fierce to destroy a forest,” observes the activist, who fights against the installation of photovoltaic parks in natural spaces.
In the Hautes-Alpes, and even more in the neighboring Alpes-de-Hauvence, these projects have multiplied for ten years. These rural departments, wooded and not populated, also have the double advantage of sunshine and freshness, ideal for the productivity of solar panels. In the race for the development of photovoltaics in France, they therefore constitute targets of choice for operators.
According to the multi -year energy programming, The solar park must go from 14 gigawatts (GW) currently installed to a lens of 35 GW to 44 GW in 2028 , or Near the triple, in order to meet national climatic objectives. An accelerated development which, according to the recommendations of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, must “favor the already artificialized land” and “to proscribe agricultural or forest land” if the project is not compatible with their vocation.
These artificialized terrains, the Ecological Transition Agency (ADEME) tried to estimate them: it identified a maximum deposit of 364 GW on the roofs, as well as a potential of 49 GW on neglected areas (fallow industrial and commercial, old discharges, etc.) and 4 GW in the car parks. Theoretical figures hiding strong local disparities … but which suggest an important potential.
“The photovoltaic sector tends to go rather to power plants than in roofs more profitable and simpler to develop massively. But, even on the ground, we could strongly limit the use of natural forest areas and favor the Anthropized or co-use sites: Agriphotovoltaïsme, with synergy between energy and agricultural production, or floating photovoltaics, on artificial water expanses “, Analysis Pierre Rale, engineer at Ademe.
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