Wind turbine blown down… by the wind in western France

Wind is normally good news for wind turbines, but the recent high winds brought by Storm Carmen was too much for one 260-tonne machine in western France.

Published: 2 January 2018 11:48 CET

Wind turbine blown down... by the wind in western France

Photos: AFP

There is only so much wind a wind turbine can take it seems.

At least that was the case for one in the Vendée, western France where a 62-metre high turbine was blown over by in fierce winds on January 1st.

The 260 tonne turbine was toppled in a field near the town of Bouin, where it had stood firmly for 13 years and survived numerous other storms.

The other turbines on the wind farm survived Storm Carmen, and specialists believe a mini-tornado may have been responsible for blowing over the unlucky turbine.

France increases to €9,000 grants for property owners

The French government will increase the amount of money available to replace gas and oil-powered boilers through the MaPrimeRenov’ scheme, part of a package of measures announced by Prime Minister Jean Castex on Wednesday.

Environment Minister Barbara Pompili said that from April 15th, some households would be able to benefit from an extra €1,000 to “accelerate the replacement of fossil fuel-powered boilers with renewable heating solutions”, such as heat pumps and biomass heaters.

It will no longer be possible to use state funding to replace a gas boiler with another, more efficient gas boiler.

This brings the total state aid available for replacing boilers up to €9,000.

Barbara Pompili annonce une augmentation de "Ma prime Renov" de 1000 euros pic.twitter.com/J3DE1NdigW

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) March 16, 2022

Who can benefit?

The funding for boiler replacement is available through the MaPrimeRenov’ scheme – which is available to anyone who owns property in France.

Applicants for funding do however need a French numéro fiscal (tax number) and a copy of their latest tax declaration, which means those who do not file the annual tax declaration in France are effectively excluded.

You can only apply for funding if your property is more than two years old.

The amount of money you could receive depends on a range of criteria including: household income; the number of people living in the household; and the location of the property.

You can read more about the MaPrimeRenov’ scheme HERE.

Why is the government doing this?

The move essentially allows France to faire d’une pierre deux coups – hit two birds with one stone.

One one hand, it will allow the country to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions in the face of the global climate crisis.

On the other, it allows France to reduce its dependency on Russian gas – which has become a government priority ever since the invasion of Ukraine.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex said the government would target and end to dependency on Russian energy by 2027. The construction of new nuclear plants announced in February will also assist in reaching this objective.

You can read more about the government’s measures to insulate the French economy from the war in Ukraine HERE.

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