Gatinais I & II
The Largest Wind Farm in Ile-de-France
The Gatinais wind farm consists of two clusters. The first, with a capacity of 24 MW spread over 12 turbines, became operational in 2015, with 8 turbines on its territory and 4 others in the Centre-Val de Loire region. This part of the plant produces more than 60 GWh each year, equivalent to the consumption of the Nemours catchment area.
In 2020, the winf farm was extended in the continuation of the first cluster, in the municipalities of Beaumont-du-Gâtinais and Gironville, in the Seine-et-Marne department (77). Five new wind turbines have been installed, bringing the total capacity of Gatinais I & II to 45 MW.
An extension designed from the start in collaboration with local residents
The wind farm extension project was developed at the request of the two municipalities of Gironville and Beaumont-du-Gâtinais and was carried out in consultation with the residents of the two municipalities through a public inquiry phase and co-construction workshops. These workshops allowed the collective determination of the location and configuration (height and number of masts) of the new wind turbines. The participatory approach was particularly beneficial for the project, which was not the subject of any appeals. Thus, Gatinais II has half as many masts installed compared to Gatinais I and wind turbines 40% higher, for a total installed capacity of 21 MW.
Wind turbines in an agricultural field
At the same time, Akuo is developing a permaculture project on a 1,000 m² area on the power plant site, through a fallow land agreement with two farmers, Mr Leboeuf and Mr Naudet. The land, made available to the farmers, is devoted to organic market gardening and livestock farming.
In line with this commitment to supporting responsible agriculture, food retailer Carrefour has also partnered with the site. This partnership guarantees the sale of produce from the farm in Carrefour Bio stores in the Ile-de-France region, enabling a short distribution circuit to be set up around the permacultural farm.
The largest wind farm in Ile-de-France
Our CSR commitment
Local consultation, the cornerstone of Energie du Gâtinais II
In addition to forming the largest wind farm in the Paris region, together with the Energie du Gâtinais plant, Energie du Gâtinais II was above all a great example of good local consultation allowing for optimal development of the farm. At every step in the project, the teams at Akuo engaged in dialog with local inhabitants, economic stakeholders, competent authorities, and elected representatives. Through this ongoing dialog, the farm was truly co-developed, especially with three public meetings organized at the end of 2017 at which the challenges facing Akuo’s development teams were presented to the population and the layout and configuration (number and height of towers) of the wind turbines were chosen in consultation, taking account of the requirements of each of the stakeholders.
Support measures selected together
The proposed support measures were discussed and decided on at a fourth workshop:
- Seventeen acres of land were therefore fallowed near the farm, in order to nurture local biodiversity;
- A cycle path was created in partnership with the municipality of Beaumont-du-Gâtinais; and
- Akuo contributed to reinforcing a road near the village in order to relieve the village center of farm vehicle traffic.
Crowdfunding
Finally, a crowdfunding campaign was run via our AkuoCoop platform. €1,700,000 were raised from some sixty investors and citizens who also make an active contribution to the energy transition of their region!
