Increase of the Grimsel dam rejected
The Bern Administrative Court has rejected the raising of the Grimsel dam. This means that the valuable mire biotopes and the mire landscape on the Grimsel may not be flooded.
It is now clear that the concession for an increase in the Grimsel dam will not be granted with the constitutional peatland protection is compatible, write the Grimselverein, WWF and Pro Natura in a joint media release. The environmental associations are relieved about this decision, with which the court protects the moors and the Moorland at the Grimsel against flooding and thus support the protection of peatlands throughout Switzerland. Moors, of which only a few remain in Switzerland, are particularly valuable habitats for rare animal and plant species worthy of protection. If the destruction of the mire landscape at the Grimsel had been permitted, this would have undermined mire protection throughout Switzerland, it continues.
From an environmental point of view, the renunciation of the reservoir enlargement of the Oberhasli power plants (Info from the KWO) no loss. This is because, according to Pro Natura, the dam increase would not produce any additional electricity. The intended shift of production from summer to winter would affect only a small fraction of Switzerland's annual electricity consumption, the organization writes. According to KWO, the larger reservoir would have allowed the water to be better used for electricity production throughout the year.
Finally, the environmental associations emphasize that storage capacities in Switzerland have been expanded more than enough elsewhere and are still being expanded.
