The Normandy coast of France, once the scene of the combined onslaught against Hitler’s forces, and now a tourist attraction, is also in the center of another conflict. One that pits ecologists against renewable energy proponents. Windmills churning above the tidal flats of Mont-Saint-Michel will distract from the natural beauty of the medieval monument and potentially destroy the landscape in the future, say the former.
France has 2500 windmills producing 4500 megawatts per year; the goal is to have 8500 windmills producing 25000 megawatts by 2020. Recently, the EU recommended that it invest $ 70 million in clean energy over the coming decade, tripling windmill construction to produce 20 % of Europe’s electricity.
Interestingly, French law bans windmills closer than 1500 feet from historical monuments. The current court case concerns plans to build 300 foot high windmills on farmland in Argouges, on a plateau a bit more than 10 miles southeast of Mont-Saint-Michel. The monument attracts about 3 million visitors each year to admire the rock-top monastery.
If permitted, there are more plans for an additional 80 towers in farming communities across the entire ridgeline above Mont-Saint-Michel. Farmers embrace proposals to install windmills in their fields because of the payments they receive. They get stipends for use of the land and villages are provided tax revenue on income from electricity, which is sold to the national grid.
You can never win it all, as they say. Clean energy will require large expanses of land, whether for wind or solar energy. In India, there are accusations of fertile land being claimed as degraded land for such projects. Many question the labeling of 70 million hectares as ‘degraded land’.
But that is the price one must pay for clean energy. What do you think? Should windmills be set up regardless of any other criteria other than wind quality? Do you believe turbines affect bird life? Check out this site for a comparison on the loss of biodiversity due to climate change and windmills.
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1 comment:
Yes, wind is one form of energy which could be harnessed in places where the intensity is high. But I wouldnt like to see huge windmills on beautiful mountain slopes and meadows. A better solution would be that of moderation in our lifestyles. Less consumption rather than unlimited energy.
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