VIDEO – Wind turbines of Guern: the prefect of Morbihan orders the dismantling of the illegal wind farm

Installed in 2008, the three wind turbines at the Guern farm could soon be dismantled. Indeed, after more than ten years of legal battle, the prefect of Morbihan signed a decree calling for the immediate cessation of activity and the removal of the installations.. “Following the recent decision of the Council of State rejecting the summary appeal, the prefect decided, on January 6, 2022, to sign a decree to remove the park (equivalent to dismantling, editor’s note)“, said the prefecture by email on Monday.

This decision was taken for legal reasons, already pointed out in 2009 by the Nantes administrative court: the location of these wind turbines is not regulatory, because they are located less than 500 meters from certain homes. The building permit was then canceled by the authority, which the operator had in the process contested before the courts of appeal. The negative impact on the natural environment had also been pointed out.

For Jean Le Puil, it’s the end of a long nightmare looming. “When we arrive at my house in the courtyard, what do we see? Three wind turbines. When they are in full production, it hums. The noise is obvious”, testifies this local resident whose house is located a hundred meters from the electricity production infrastructure. “We think it’s good [de cette décision, ndlr]. It relieves us “, confirms Jean-Jacques Pechard, president of the association against the Guern wind project. “But there are still, perhaps, one or two small peculiarities, since it is not us who are going to take them apart”, he tempers.

Moreover, the operating company, which has increased recourse over the past decade, is not letting go. “The legal rules of planned distance did not exist at the time, in 2008”, she says. “These do not apply to wind farms regularly put into service under the provisions of old legislative regimes”, adds the firm. A position that is not to the taste of the prefect of the Breton department. “They could have initiated the process of acquiring homes nearby. This was not done. Obviously the operator is still in dispute, it is a maneuver to save time. I hope that this will stop.”, insists Joël Mathurin at the microphone of TF1.

Next step: ask the competent authorities to no longer buy the electricity produced by these three wind turbines.