Solar and wind energy: Switzerland severely lagging behind
The Swiss Energy Foundation SES has compared the per capita production of wind and solar power in Switzerland with surrounding countries. It is only good enough for last place.
SES has compared the per capita production of solar and wind power in European countries. In this country ranking, Switzerland performs poorly: just 167 kWh of electricity from solar and wind power was produced per inhabitant in 2015. That is just under 2 percent of annual per capita consumption in Switzerland and significantly less than was produced in surrounding countries. If all the projects on the KEV waiting list had been implemented by now, Switzerland would still be in the European midfield.
Broom wagon Switzerland
In comparison with surrounding countries, Switzerland takes last place. Even countries with similar geographic conditions as Switzerland, for example the Czech Republic (even with fewer hours of sunshine) and Austria (a landlocked country with a similar population) produce more electricity from wind and sun. In a pan-European context, Switzerland does not fare any better: only Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Latvia produce even less electricity from solar and wind power. At least Switzerland has moved up one place since 2014. In the pan-European ranking, Switzerland is now in 25th place out of 29. If all the projects on the KEV waiting list had already been implemented, Switzerland would still be in the European midfield.
Beznau 1 nuclear power plant already replaced
This poor list position of Switzerland shows: The expansion of new renewable energies is necessary so that Switzerland, which is otherwise technically highly developed, does not continue to lag behind. But so far, politics has put the brakes on the expansion. The financing for numerous solar and wind power plants is blocked. More than 37,000 projects are waiting to be implemented on the waiting list for the cost-covering feed-in tariff (KEV). These could produce a total of more than three terawatt hours of electricity annually. This would already replace the annual production of the Beznau 1 nuclear power plant, which is currently off the grid due to safety concerns.
Without waiting list in the European midfield
The grid surcharge for financing these projects is currently capped at 1.3 centimes per kilowatt hour. This makes it impossible to reduce the KEV waiting list. The Energy Strategy 2050 brings a slight improvement: With a higher legal maximum of 2.3 centimes per kilowatt hour, the waiting list could be largely reduced. This would be worthwhile: if these projects were implemented now, Switzerland would at least move up to the European midfield and achieve 12th place out of 29 in Europe as a whole, and even 5th place out of 9 in comparison with the surrounding countries. "SES therefore calls on the Swiss parliament to approve the Energy Strategy 2050 in the final vote in order to get Switzerland off its embarrassing last place on the list," says Myriam Planzer, project manager at SES.
(SES)
