Territories and Energy. Combating land-use conflicts and improving the social acceptability of ground-based photovoltaic power plant projects

Based on the observation that photovoltaics is far more developed in Germany than in France, the aim of this dissertation is to expose the French administrative and regulatory red tape that is blocking or slowing down ground-mounted power plant projects, in order to propose solutions. We will look at land law and administrative procedures as obstacles or levers to the deployment of photovoltaic power plants. The author will draw on his experience in Germany to provide answers and solutions to facilitate the implementation of ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants in France. As our regions are the backbone of the energy transition, they must encourage, enable and support the achievement of renewable energy targets. The hypothesis addressed in this thesis will be that the lack of available land for solar power plants is not due to a lack of space on French territory, but to restrictive land laws and issues of public acceptability. To this end, we will first outline the challenges of the energy transition, international commitments to climate and sustainable development, and French and German energy policies. Following this, our second part will focus on ground-mounted photovoltaic power plants, and the regulatory and societal difficulties that stand in the way of their implementation. In this section, we highlight the primacy of agricultural protection and landscape conservation over the deployment of these power plants. Finally, in the third part, we propose a number of solutions to limit these conflicts of use and acceptability, based on a landscape, societal and technical approach