Renewable energies are reviving Plaisance, in Vienne. Since 2014 this small rural town of Vienne has been part of a logic of sustainable development. With the creation of a company allowing an unprecedented public-private partnership around renewable energies, it hopes to finance multiple projects.
Aurlien Tabuteau, mayor of Plaisance since 2014, is not resigned to the desertification of his small rural town in the south-east of Vienne. From his first mandate, the young councillor took concrete measures to improve his citizens’ living environment, the energy sobriety of his municipality, and the situation of its finances.
Insulation of all public buildings and replacement of conventional boilers, installation of solar panels on municipal buildings allowing self-consumption and resale of energy, acquisition of an electric technical vehicle, the transformation of the old, dilapidated substation into two rental housing, organization of events … the balance of the municipal budget is maintained. The municipality has about fifteen new inhabitants.
An Innovative Economic Model
To further develop his territory, Aurlien Tabuteau is betting on an ambitious project with an unprecedented financial package: to take part in the capital of companies developing wind farm projects and other renewable energies in his municipality and the neighbouring cities.
With the advice of the consultancy firm specializing in the environment of its neighbour of Montmorillon Philippe Moreau, and the recommendations of the lawyers of the Fidal firm, the town of Plaisance joined forces on January 9 with the financial company of Thon (belonging to Philippe Moreau) to constitute a SAS, a simplified share company.
Called Plaisance Green, this company will allow the municipality to enter the capital of project companies up to a minimum of 10%. Three wind projects are underway in Plaisance according to the mayor.
Renewable Energies, a Windfall for Rural Development
For Aurlien Tabuteau, it is a question of continuing an energy transition provided for by law and freeing up funding for projects that the operating budget of his municipality and the decrease in state and local government grants not allow.
A first subdivision project of about fifteen pavilions is underway. Built to HQE standards in energy autonomy, these pavilions located on large plots would initially be rental, with homeownership possibility. Half a dozen of them would be sized and equipped to accommodate older adults, alone or as a couplea project whose cost is estimated at 2.5 million euros.
A natural cemetery, establishing a network of shuttles to facilitate the mobility of young and old, an itinerant trade, the provision of a room for medical care, energy check, there is no shortage of ideas for the revitalization of Plaisance.
And to finance them, the municipality also intends to advocate the development of agrivoltaicism: a double system combining the same surface a crop and a photovoltaic structure.