Huge solar panels soon to be deployed throughout France, including near homes

A large number of solar panels could soon invade the fields near at your place.

Wind turbines are not always well received, because despite their capacity to produce renewable energy, for some they come to spoil the landscape. In order not to disturb the inhabitants, the rule imposes a minimum distance of 500 m between a wind turbine and a house. And if the question were extended to solar panels? These could indeed soon multiply almost everywhere in France.

After lengthy negotiations between the administration, energy companies and the agricultural sector, a decree was published in the Official Journal in April on the development of agrivoltaic systems, supplemented by an order published in July. It concerns in particular the deployment of solar panels in fields in order to produce electricity. The objective is to reach 100 GW of capacity by 2035 in France, five times more than at present.

To achieve these objectives, solar panels could be installed even in fields that also have animals or plants, in other words in “pastures, orchards and market gardening lands”. The decree does not provide for any size limit, the only requirement being that “the height of the agrivoltaic installation and the inter-row spacing allow normal operation and ensure, in particular, traffic, safety physical and animal shelter as well as, if the plots are mechanized, the passage of agricultural machinery.

The text also provides that “the area that is no longer usable due to the agrivoltaic installation does not exceed 10% of the total area covered by the agrivoltaic installation” and that “the coverage rate […] does not exceed 40%”. No rule concerning proximity to homes, however, except that each project must be compatible with the Local Urban Planning Plan (PLU), that it is carried out on non-constructible land and that it is reversible. It is therefore essential to check with the town hall the specific urban planning rules your residential area.

The risk of seeing more solar panels appear, but also higher ones (for cohabitation with a herd for example) is therefore real. Hundreds of panel installation projects were waiting for the publication of the decree to get started and many should see the light of day between September 2024 and the year 2025. Enough to cause a stir. The Young Farmers and the Peasant Confederation have denounced a risk of “land confiscation and land artificialization”, according to Ouest-France. They would prefer that the panels be placed on parking lots or supermarket roofs.

If agrivoltaics can become a source of additional income for farmers, the maintenance of agricultural production will be controlled by the Departmental Territorial Directorates. In addition, control procedures and sanctions are provided for in the event of non-compliance with the rules. They may go as far as “dismantling the installation in question with restoration of the plot”, according to the Ministry of Industry.