FILE. The tough battles to install photovoltaic power plants

Maël Lagarde, directeur général de VSB Energies nouvelles : “On ne maîtrise pas toujours les délais dans notre métier”.

Selon les territoires, les oppositions restent fortes pour installer des parcs de panneaux solaires. Un des multiples freins au développement de la filière.

Developing a photovoltaic sector in the region sometimes requires facing tough battles. Sometimes fierce opposition to the installation of photovoltaic panel farms. “You always have to explain and explain again what you want to achieve as developments”, recognizes Maël Lagarde, CEO of VSB Énergies nouvelles, the French subsidiary of the German group VSB, based in Nîmes.

“There is a balance to be found, particularly in the case of agrivoltaics, between installations and the continuation of agricultural activity”,adds Marie Rolin, Director of Business Unit, within the Toulouse office of the consulting company Alcimed. There is no shortage of examples of opposition to projects to install ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants. They are accused of occupying land spaces, which have become increasingly rare, or even of distorting the landscapes.

"We can't always control time"

Maël Lagarde provides a particularly interesting analysis of this type of opposition. "The phenomenon of relocation of energy production leads to the need for local appropriation of the theme, which can become divisive", he comments.

VSB Énergies nouvelles has just inaugurated a 9 MW clean electricity production park in Balzac, in Aveyron. The project was completed on time. But, he admits, "we don't always control time, and therefore deadlines, in our profession". Oppositions are part of the hazards.

I subscribe to read more