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analysis, etc.), RAEE, through the work led on the different pilot areas, now has
a clear overview of the methodology that can be used on a territory to assess the
impacts that photovoltaics can have on landscape. The main criteria have been
identified through the different approaches so that RAEE is now able to advise
other municipalities on the parameters to assess: the type of relief, visibility of
the roofs, density of villages, protected areas, types of tiles, etc. Actually RAEE is
presently summarizing all these elements in a small methodological document
that should be disseminated after the end of the Enerscapes project.
As for the participatory process, which was developed very widely within the
Enerscapes project, RAEE has implemented various approaches in the pilot ar-
eas: different kinds of people were selected to organize public meetings and
different ways of tackling the issue of RES and landscape were tested with local
inhabitants. Then, RAEE has already capitalized quite a wide range of tools that
can be used to make a participatory process successful: photo simulations to
represent photovoltaic plants in the landscape for citizens, visits in the villages
to explain to people how the landscape changes with time, polls and surveys,
meetings with technical experts that can clearly explain how the plants work,
and so on. All those methodological tools bring information to local citizens
and help them increase trust in renewable energies since they can progressively
understand what the stakes are (climate change, decrease of fossil resources…)
and begin to feel that they can also be part of their change by modifying their
energy consumptions or participating into local energy production projects.
Considering the fact that RAEE closely worked with Natural Regional Parks, the
aim is now to spread the work which has been capitalized in pilot areas within
other municipalities of the NRPs. Natural regional parks have a particular rela-
tionship with energy and landscape: they shelter cultural and natural heritage of
Fig.5
Meetings
with citizens,
raee, France.
