Fair Citizens participation in wind farm planning : A study of a wind park in a French municipality
2025
Marchand, Thelma
The decarbonisation of our energy systems has become a major goal in Europe, leading to an acceleration in the development of renewable energy. Wind parks have been recognised as essential to achieving these goals, and France has announced its objective to deploy more and more wind parks across the country. At the same time, many of the first wind parks developed in the early 2000s in France have begun reaching the end of their life expectancy and need to be renewed. The planning process for developing or renewing wind park projects considers the inclusion of citizens as essential, both to raise social acceptance and to incorporate local knowledge, which must be taken into account. Moreover, the right to be heard and to engage in democratic processes is a cornerstone of society and is vital to establishing a framework that integrates the three pillars of sustainable development. However, many barriers can prevent adequate representation of citizens’ opinions, raising questions about the actual role that citizens can play in the development of such projects. These concerns are part of broader debates around fairness in the wind farm planning process and require careful attention. This research aims to explore the possible discrepancies between the legal framework and what citizen participation means in practice, particularly when engagement in wind farm planning appears low. A specific case study was selected due to its low rate of public participation in a wind park renewal project. This study explores what constitutes a fair wind farm planning process in terms of citizens’ rights to engage and be informed.
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