Site selection process

• Arrêté du 26 août 2011
• Arrêté du 22 juin 2020
• Code de l’environnement
• Arrêté du 17 mai 2018
• Circulaire du 18 décembre 2009
• Code de l’urbanisme

Wind energy onshore: suitable land plots for wind installations are identified by DREAL’s regional inventory lists. However, developers have to comply with a series of restrictions.
• According to the Arrêté du 26 août 2011, wind plants must not affect the operations of civilian, military or meteorologic radars.
• According to a note of the Ministry of defense, a protection zone of 5 to 20 km in which wind plants are not permitted is granted depending on the radar technology; a coordination zone of 5 to 30 km is granted in order to evaluate the impact of wind turbines with all the actors involved; an authorization zone is granted when there is no significant disturbance to radars’ operation.
• According to the Arrêté du 22 juin 2020, a 15 to 30 km security radius is established around radars with civil aviation navigation purposes.
• According to the Arrêté du 26 août 2011, a 10 to 30 km security radius is established around radars with meteorological purposes.
• The Prefect leads the assessment for the compliance of new wind plants with the distance regulations regarding radars (Art. R181-32, Code de l’Environnement).
• According to the Arrêté du 26 août 2011, a minimum distance of 300 m must be respected between wind plants, nuclear plants or ICPE installations (installation classée pour la protection de l’environnement). Residential buildings, inhabited buildings or areas intended for habitation must be at a minimum distance of 500 m from wind plants.
• According to the Art. L553-1 Code de l’Environnement, wind turbines taller than 50 m cannot be constructed at less than 500 m from residential use land or railways.
• According to the Arrêté du 17 mai 2018, wind plants developers are required to conduct an study on the impact on wildlife, whose findings must be transferred to the national database ‘legal data archive on biodiversity’
Solar Energy
• Ground-mounted PV: this type of installations is mainly intended for urbanised or future urbanised areas identified by Local Urban Plans (Plans Locaux d’Urbanisme – PLU or PLUi). If an area is not covered by PLUs, the PV installation can be constructed within the municipalities’ constructible area or in the municipalities’ urbanised area. Even though the installation of PV plants on agricultural land is generally deemed inappropriate, the Code de l’urbanisme provides for the authorisation permit in case the installation is compatible with agricultural activities and is able to preserve natural areas. PV plants can also be installed, according to the Circulaire du 18 décembre 2009, in agricultural areas which have not been recently utilised, following a change in the land use in the town planning.
• Rooftop PV: these installations must comply with urban planning regulations, which are set in each municipality by the DDT. In case the municipality is not covered DDT’s regulations, the national regulation applies. The developer of rooftop PV installations must contact the respective municipality administration in order to comply with buildings’ external appearance constraints. For rooftop PV installation all owners in the building must give their consent for construction. If the rooftop installation is located within 500 m of a listed building, the ABF must give its approval (which is binding for the municipality if there is co-visibility between the PV installation and the listed building, and not binding when there is no co-visibility).

• Regional Departments for the Environment, Development and Housing (Directions Régionales de l’Aménagement et du Logement – DREAL)
• Ministers of Ecology
• Ministry of Defence
• Departmental Territorial Directorate (Direction Départementale des Territoires – DDT)
• French Architectural Review Board (Architecte des Bâtiments de France - ABF)