As more and more wind farms are commissioned in France, social acceptance seems a rising issue during the planning process. The present work aims at outlining the social factors of success or failure of a wind farm project. The study was undertaken by the use of interviews with a pro and anti wind federation, interviews with people living close to a wind farm and a poll conducted in a city surrounded by many wind farms. The results show that the acceptance of wind power has decreased over the last three years in France and decreases as the proposed wind farms gets closer to people’s household. On the other hand, the planning process could be improved by involving the public earlier in the process in order to take into account their concerns and requests. It would ease the planning process and could avoid costly trials.