The Grands Communaux wind farm project

The “Parc éolien des Grands Communaux” project consists of 13 wind turbines in the rural communes of Antheuil and Saint-Jean-de-Bœuf. Both communes lie in the Côte-d’Or département, in the area of the Pouilly-en-Auxois – Bligny-sur-Ouche and Ouche et Montagne groupings of communes. A public inquiry was held from 30 November 2023 to 11 January 2024.

On 19 November 2024, the Prefect of the Côte-d’Or, Paul Mourier, announced that the Grands Communaux wind farm project had not been granted environmental authorisation. Prefectoral Order No. 1767 of 19 November 2024 (in French) lists 149 reasons why the project should not go ahead.

The developer, Q ENERGY (formerly RES France), describes it as an extension of the Portes de la Côte d’Or wind farm at Bessey-en-Chaume, which has 27 turbines in operation since 2015.

The project is mainly sited in forest, within the Special Protection Area (SPA) of the “Arrière Côte de Dijon, Nuits-Saint-Georges et de Beaune”, designated in the Natura 2000 network under the Birds Directive, and among a dense mesh of other nearby environmental designations.

According to the environmental impact assessment (RES, July 2020), the Grands Communaux wind farm will have 13 turbines in 2 zones:

• The 1st zone (turbines T1 to T8) lies in the east of the commune of Saint-Jean-de-Bœuf, in its communal forest (the places known as “Monts Rognon” and “Les Roches Vergy”), north of the RD 8 road;

• The 2nd zone lies in the woods south of the RD 8, straddling two communes. Turbine T9 is in the south of the Saint-Jean-de-Bœuf communal forest, in the Bois du Chêneau. Turbines T10 to T13 are in the north of the Antheuil communal forest, in the Bois de la Charmille Galant.

Information on the public inquiry is available here (in French).

The photomontages presented by Q ENERGY can be viewed here.

Made with advanced technology, the images on this site are an effective tool for visualisation and communication. Everyone with a stake in the Grands Communaux project, and all the local communities, can have accurate information on the different aspects of the project.

For some of the visuals we used the 1 m resolution digital surface model (DSM) from the French national mapping agency (IGN, Institut National de l’Information Géographique).

Other communes and heritage sites not covered by this site will be affected by the project: Agey, Arcey, Baulme-la-Roche, Chaudenay-le-Château, Clemencey, Lantenay, Poisot, Sombernon and Ternant (the Ferme de Rolle).