Conception et validation d'un modèle d'analyse et de suivi pour une politique énergétique durable et acceptable de l'énergie éolienne : une étude comparative France-Québec

RÉSUMÉ: Dans cette recherche, nous avons construit un modèle conceptuel d'une politique éolienne durable et acceptable que nous avons cherché à valider par l'étude des cas de la France et du Québec. De nature qualitative et comparative, notre approche permet d'illustrer les interactions des variables institutionnelles étudiées, dont le contexte national d'émergence, le rapport de force des groupes de pression, les influences supranationales et/ou exogènes, le niveau d'engagement politique, les instruments et légaux, l' acceptabilité sociale et les mécanismes d'évaluation envirOlmementale. La recherche confirme que le néo-corporatisme est présent en France et permet d'avancer qu'il l'est aussi au Québec. Avec un contexte énergétique défavorable (de faible coût d'électricité, d'une absence de besoin et d'un mix électrique déjà fortement décarbonné), cela constitue deux facteurs importants expliquant: 1) le fort retard accumulé par la France et le Québec dans le développement des projets éoliens ou de la filière industrielle; 2) la place relativement limitée de 10% que l'on accorde à l'énergie éolienne. On constate aussi que le niveau de volonté politique pour l'énergie éolienne fluctue au gré des gouvernements, du contexte énergétique ou de l'influence des groupes de pression. Cela se manifeste par un manque de continuité des instruments politiques et/ou tarifaires utilisés; seule une stabilité de ces politiques permettrait de conserver une taille de marché suffisante à moyen terme et garantirait un développement plus pérenne de l'industrie ou des projets. Les résultats montrent également que notre conception théorique de l'acceptabilité sociale en trois niveaux hiérarchiques (filière, porteurs de projets, local) est riche d'enseignement. Les oppositions sociales, quoique multifactorielles, sont reliées à une critique du modèle de développement trop privé, aux dilemmes territoriaux (mitage du territoire dans un environnement fermé en France), énergétiques (surplus électriques et faibles coûts à l'exportation au Québec), et au système de planification et de décision stratégique centralisé. Un enjeu impOliant pour une politique éolienne plus acceptable sera d'arriver à une plus grande pluralité de porteurs de projets, d'envergure de parcs et de modèles de soutien financier. Cette transformation sociale que demandent les énergies renouvelables ne pourra pas s'obtenir non plus sans une décentralisation des pouvoirs et une certaine modernisation écologique des institutions. Comme une politique énergétique durable et acceptable exige J'obtention d'un consensus stabilisé sur l'avenir que l'on souhaite au mix énergétique, un débat public global et éclairé préalable à l'élaboration de la politique énergétique est en outre nécessaire. -- Mots-clés: politique énergétique, acceptabilité sociale, énergie éolienne, évaluation environnementale, composantes, inter-relations. -- ABSTRACT: In this research, we built a conceptual model of a sustainable and acceptable wind power policy that we tried to validate through the case study of France and Quebec in the wind energy sector. Our qualitative and comparative approach helps us to illustrate the interaction of institutional variables studied, including the national context of emergence, the balance of power between pressure groups, the supranational and exogenous influences, level of political commitment, policy and regulatory instruments, social acceptance and energy policy mechanisms. The research confirms that the neo-corporatism is present in France as in Quebec. With the unfavorable energy context (low cost of electricity tariff, lack of electricity demand, and an already low zero carbon electric mix), it is an important factor explaining : 1) the 20 years delay accumulated by France and Quebec in the developrnent of wind projects or industrial sector; 2) the 10% limited penetration scale given to wind energy. We also demonstrate that the political commitment to develop wind energy fluctuates with the governrnent majority, the energy context or the influence of pressure groups. This manifests itself in a lack of continuity of policies and tariff instruments used. In both national case studies, the results also show that balanced policies and regulations ensure sustainable development of wind energy only if they allow a sufficient market size. The search results also illustrates that the conceptual division made between acceptance of wind sector, acceptance of ownership, local acceptance is very instructive. Social controversies, though multifactorial, are connected to both a critique of the development model too industrial and private, territorial dilemmas (closed environnment), energy context (electric surplus in Quebec), or related to strategic plarming system and centralized decision. An important issue for a more acceptable wind policy in the future will come to a greater plurality of ownership, variety of wind projects scale, diversity of financial support mechanisms. This transformation to a more territorial policy that require renewables also calls for decentralization and ecological modernization of institutions. Sustainable and acceptable energy policy requires obtaining a stabilized consensus on the longterm energy mix, which should be done by a comprehensive energy and public debate upstream the development of energy policy. -- Keywords: energy policy, social acccptance, wind energy, environmemental assessment, components, interactions

Conception et validation d’un modèle d’analyse et de suivi pour l’élaboration d’une politique énergétique durable et acceptable : une étude comparative France-Québec sur l’énergie éolienne

This article presents the main results of a doctoral thesis which analyze the various components involved in the development of a sustainable and socially acceptable energy policy for wind energy through a comparative study of France and Quebec. A conceptual model has been developed and validated by a qualitative methodology; it serves to illustrate the interactions between variables, including national context of emergence, balance of power between pressure groups, supranational and exogenous influences, level of political commitment, policy and regulatory instruments, social acceptance and energy policy assessment. The research confirms that the initial unfavorable energy context and the neocorporatism limited the place given to wind energy in both national jurisdictions. These factors have delayed the development of projects and industrial sector influencing negatively the level of political will for this type of energy. This unstable political commitment did not consolidate the 1990’s opportunity window for wind energy, because of social acceptance issues related to a criticism of a too private and expensive development model, lack of initial planning , a too centralized and not enough participatory planning system, and the lack of space in France or the electricity surplus combining with low exporting electricity costs in Quebec. In recent years, the pace of development slowed due to a lack of continuity of call for tenders (CT) in Quebec, and to a too complex and unstable regulatory framework which counterbalanced the positive effect of feed-in tariffs (FIT) in France. The level of political commitment toward wind energy can be measured by the level and stability of financial and regulatory instruments, which are two key elements of the diffusion process of projects or technology: They must be both simultaneously adequate and stable in the medium term in order to reach a sufficient market size in volume, able to catalyze the development of a domestic industrial sector. This was not the case in these two jurisdictions. A wind energy policy will be more socially accepted in the future if: 1) the wind energy field is relevant in the national energy mix. Its place should be more consensual and its development should not lead to excessive costs to society; 2) project ownership are mostly accepted; 3) the projects are locally accepted. This finding confirms the results of Jegen and Audet (2011): a hybrid model of development based on a diversity of ownerships, size of projects and pricing mechanisms (CT and FIT) would be an acceptable compromise able to achieve this balance. The research adds that that there is also a need to improve the way in which projects or energy policies are evaluated, because citizens should have a more direct effect on their development prior to their implementation. This calls for an ecological modernization of institutions, notably based on more open and participatory process

Conception et validation d’un modèle d’analyse et de suivi pour l’élaboration d’une politique énergétique durable et acceptable : une étude comparative France-Québec sur l’énergie éolienne

This article presents the main results of a doctoral thesis which analyze the various components involved in the development of a sustainable and socially acceptable energy policy for wind energy through a comparative study of France and Quebec. A conceptual model has been developed and validated by a qualitative methodology; it serves to illustrate the interactions between variables, including national context of emergence, balance of power between pressure groups, supranational and exogenous influences, level of political commitment, policy and regulatory instruments, social acceptance and energy policy assessment. The research confirms that the initial unfavorable energy context and the neocorporatism limited the place given to wind energy in both national jurisdictions. These factors have delayed the development of projects and industrial sector influencing negatively the level of political will for this type of energy. This unstable political commitment did not consolidate the 1990’s opportunity window for wind energy, because of social acceptance issues related to a criticism of a too private and expensive development model, lack of initial planning , a too centralized and not enough participatory planning system, and the lack of space in France or the electricity surplus combining with low exporting electricity costs in Quebec. In recent years, the pace of development slowed due to a lack of continuity of call for tenders (CT) in Quebec, and to a too complex and unstable regulatory framework which counterbalanced the positive effect of feed-in tariffs (FIT) in France. The level of political commitment toward wind energy can be measured by the level and stability of financial and regulatory instruments, which are two key elements of the diffusion process of projects or technology: They must be both simultaneously adequate and stable in the medium term in order to reach a sufficient market size in volume, able to catalyze the development of a domestic industrial sector. This was not the case in these two jurisdictions. A wind energy policy will be more socially accepted in the future if: 1) the wind energy field is relevant in the national energy mix. Its place should be more consensual and its development should not lead to excessive costs to society; 2) project ownership are mostly accepted; 3) the projects are locally accepted. This finding confirms the results of Jegen and Audet (2011): a hybrid model of development based on a diversity of ownerships, size of projects and pricing mechanisms (CT and FIT) would be an acceptable compromise able to achieve this balance. The research adds that that there is also a need to improve the way in which projects or energy policies are evaluated, because citizens should have a more direct effect on their development prior to their implementation. This calls for an ecological modernization of institutions, notably based on more open and participatory process

Institutional factors influencing strategic decision-making in energy policy; a case study of wind energy in France and Quebec (Canada)

International audienc

Politique énergétique 2030 du Québec : l’étonnante absence d'une stratégie de transport soutenable

Following a text published in « Le Soleil » on April 7th entitled "The Forced Future of Wind Energy in Québec" (Saucier et al., 2016), a collective of eight researchers, members of the Collectif scientifique sur la question du gaz de schiste, question the ambition and the strategic orientations of Québec's energy policy (QEP) 2030 for the transportation sector. Current forecasts show major annual electricity surpluses until 2023 in Québec (8,3 TWh/yr), a volume that represents more than what is needed to fully substitute the annual fossil fuel consumed by car transportation today. Yet, despite the ambitious objectives of QEP 2030, there appears to be no documented action plan describing the structured deployment required to get there. Why is it that Québec has not yet been able to develop a responsible, ambitious and imaginative electricity substitution roadmap for the transportation sector like the one adopted 50 years ago when the deployment of the hydroelectricity infrastructure became the main strategic focus of a modern Quebec economy ? This is the fundamental question raised in this article

Politique énergétique 2030 du Québec : l’étonnante absence d'une stratégie de transport soutenable

Following a text published in « Le Soleil » on April 7th entitled "The Forced Future of Wind Energy in Québec" (Saucier et al., 2016), a collective of eight researchers, members of the Collectif scientifique sur la question du gaz de schiste, question the ambition and the strategic orientations of Québec's energy policy (QEP) 2030 for the transportation sector. Current forecasts show major annual electricity surpluses until 2023 in Québec (8,3 TWh/yr), a volume that represents more than what is needed to fully substitute the annual fossil fuel consumed by car transportation today. Yet, despite the ambitious objectives of QEP 2030, there appears to be no documented action plan describing the structured deployment required to get there. Why is it that Québec has not yet been able to develop a responsible, ambitious and imaginative electricity substitution roadmap for the transportation sector like the one adopted 50 years ago when the deployment of the hydroelectricity infrastructure became the main strategic focus of a modern Quebec economy ? This is the fundamental question raised in this article

Développement territorial et filière éolienne. Des installations éoliennes socialement acceptables : élaboration d'un modèle d'évaluation des projets dans une perspective de développement territorial durable

Recherche interdisciplinaire axée sur la conception de modèles d’implantation et de suivi de projets de parcs éoliens dans des collectivités locales et régionales, ceci dans une perspective de développement territorial durable. La recherche poursuivait deux objectifs principaux : 1- analyser la problématique de l’intégration de parcs éoliens dans le développement économique et social des collectivités; 2- proposer une ou des voies d’implantation de parcs éoliens, basées sur le suivi des pratiques en termes d’acceptabilité sociale. Plus spécifiquement, la recherche visait à identifier les facteurs et les conditions pouvant favoriser l’acceptabilité sociale de projets éoliens. Cette recherche s’inscrivait dans une approche exploratoire et qualitative concernant notamment l’identification des facteurs d’acceptabilité sociale en regard de l’éolien, et de l’interrelation de ces derniers avec la caractérisation des pratiques de développement territorial durable des collectivités locales, voire régionales, touchées par l’implantation de la filière éolienne.Table des matières; Introduction; 1 - Contexte québécois d’implantation de la filière éolienne; 2 - Cadre conceptuel; 3 - Méthodologie; 4 - Résultats d'enquête; 5 - Analyse des données : bilan; Conclusion; Bibliographie; Annexe