A Comparison of the Emergence of Wind Energy Landscapes in France, Germany and Portugal
Résumé
This chapter is about the recent development of wind energy in three European countries, France, Germany and Portugal, investigated through landscape issues. Its objective is to provide information about the role of institutions and landscape practices in the management of energy transition.‘Energy landscapes’ are understood here as landscapes with a low carbon content which physically and socially include the presence of new energy infrastructures (Nadaï and Van der Horst, 2010; Selman, 2010; Pasqualetti, 2000). Landscape is envisaged as a cultural and social process whose transformations we will try to monitor using a dual analysis, on one hand, of the institutions which support organisation and perception, and on the other, of the practices with which the spaces are experienced, managed and practised, especially when they are reorganised around new energy infrastructures.After having definedour method, we will examine the deployment of wind energy and its articulation to landscape issues in each of the three countries. We will conclude by comparing the practices and institutional issues linked to the emergence of these new energy landscapes. The comparison of the results from each country will allow us to discuss the role of landscape in the deployment of wind energy and to conclude in general on its importance in managing the energy transition.