Minister Willy BORSUS has decided, together with his colleague in charge of the Environment Céline TELLIER, to refuse the permit for an agrivoltaic project combining electricity production, sheep grazing and honey production on around twenty hectares, in the municipality of Aiseau-Presles.
The Minister wants to prioritise photovoltaic installations that have no impact on land use. The development of photovoltaic installations on roofs or on already sealed surfaces (roads, car parks, storage areas, industrial halls, commercial premises, etc.) must therefore continue and be stepped up, as the available potential remains considerable.
As a reminder, the Minister recently issued a new circular reminding municipalities and his administration that this is absolutely the approach to be favoured.
Furthermore, the circular provides for a limited opening for pilot projects involving a ground-based photovoltaic field, but only if they are developed in connection with agricultural research and innovation. This cannot apply to projects where market gardening, livestock farming, etc. serve merely as an alibi annex to ground-based photovoltaic projects.
The Aiseau-Presles project therefore contradicts not only the zoning plan's designation but also the Minister's circular.
For Willy BORSUS: “Fighting pressure on agricultural land therefore remains the objective of the circular. Farmland must continue to fulfil its primary purpose, which is to produce food. Adding a few sheep or beehives to a project does not suddenly give it an agricultural character... I therefore suggest that any promoters of agrivoltaic projects fundamentally redirect their approach towards existing buildings.”