French court halts onshore wind project

Court documents revealed on Friday that a project to build an onshore windfarm in the north-east of France had its licenses revoked due to "visual saturation".

The Mont des Quatre Faux project, a 226 megawatt onshore wind farm in Belgium and France, was developed by the French power company EDF Renewables with the Belgian renewables firm Renner.

Website for the project shows that investment costs were estimated at over 250 million euros (276 million dollars).

Local activist groups brought the case, and the court decided that the project has a significant impact on the landscape.

EDF Renewables spokesperson said that the company will review and respond to the decision in the next few days.

Renner refused to comment.

Due to red tape and local opposition, France has found it difficult to meet the European Union's guidelines on renewable development.

In 2017, the first permit was granted for the Mont des Quatre Faux Project. The opposition groups failed to succeed in bringing several other objections before the court. Reporting by Forrest Crellin in Gdansk and Alban Kascher in Gdansk, Editing by David Goodman

(source: Reuters)