Built on farmlands and in the woods of this town of 170 inhabitants, they dominate the first Jura plateau, with a maximum height of 193 meters.

“It is a great satisfaction, the completion of ten years of work with actors who believe in the ecological transition”, said delightedly Fabrice Gourat, president of Intervent, Mulhouse research office in charge of the wind park’s development.

Begun in 2007, the project brings together Intervent, German Enercon, which built the wind turbines and is in charge of their maintenance, private investors and local authorities, including the municipality of Chamole.

“There were no objections. We took the lead, exchanged with the residents and integrated them into the project,” said Jean-Louis Dufour, Mayor of Chamole.

About 630 people have invested nearly one million euros in a company in charge of financing and operating one of the wind turbines.

It will be used in the future to develop other projects around renewable energies.

After a year of construction, the three blades of each turbine, hung on an impressive 115-meter-diameter rotor, began circling in December under wind effect.

The wind turbines reach their maximum power when they blow at 12 m/s with a height of 135 meters, “a very regular phenomenon,” said Hartmut Schulteis, in charge of Enercon’s park operation.

“On the ground, the wind is much slower than in other regions, but these wind turbines are the highest in France in order to reach the highest speed,” he explains.

The expected electricity production is close to 33 million kWh per year, enough to supply the surrounding communes with “clean and renewable electricity”, according to the project promoters.

“This will prevent the release of 2 300 tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year,” they say.

The Chamole wind farm required a total investment of around 32 million euros. A contract has been signed with EDF for the purchase of electricity, which “will make it possible to repay the financing in 15 years”, according to Fabrice Gourat.

The wind power sector now accounts for nearly 5% of total electricity production in France, according to a study by the Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, cited by the project leaders.