60% of Swiss electricity is renewable
58% of the electricity from Swiss sockets comes from renewable energies: 53% from large-scale hydropower and around 5% from photovoltaics, wind, small-scale hydropower and biomass. 21% comes from nuclear energy and just under 2% from waste and fossil fuels. For 19% of the electricity supplied, the origin and composition cannot be verified. This is shown by the data on electricity labeling in 2015.
The data on the Swiss electricity supply mix (electricity mix ex socket, see box) is collected annually and published on www.stromkennzeichnung.ch in the Electricity Labeling Cockpit. The data published today provide information about the electricity supply 2015. The following picture emerges:
- 53.4% of the electricity supplied in 2015 was used in Large hydropower plants (2014: 49.5%). Of the hydropower supplied, 88.8% (2014: 87.6%) was produced in Switzerland.
- 20.7% (2014: 26.0%) of the electricity supplied was used in Nuclear power plants is produced. This is lower than the share of nuclear energy in the Swiss production mix (34%). Switzerland accounts for 88.2% of the nuclear energy supplied.
- 19.4% (2014: 18.1%) of the electricity supplied came from non-verifiable energy sources. This relatively high share is probably due to the fact that electricity from fossil and nuclear sources is increasingly being procured on the European market without purchasing corresponding guarantees of origin. Compared with the previous year, however, the share of non-verifiable energy sources has increased only slightly.
- The share new renewable energy sources (solar, wind, biomass, and small hydropower) is steadily increasing, from 4.7% (2014) to 4.9% in 2015. 94% of this was produced in Switzerland, and nearly three-quarters was subsidized by the compensatory feed-in tariff (KEV).
- In small quantities, the electricity supplied in 2015 came from Waste (1%) and fossil energy sources (0.6%).
More transparency
In order to increase transparency for customers and ensure the quality of electricity labeling, the Federal Council has already implemented various measures. Since 2013, all power plants - with the exception of very small plants - must be registered in the guarantee of origin system, which is managed by the national grid company Swissgrid. In addition, the Energy Ordinance requires suppliers to use all existing guarantees of origin for electricity labeling and to declare a share of "non-verifiable energy sources" of over 20% to their customers.
At the beginning of 2016, the Federal Council also showed in the report "Electricity labeling: Full declaration obligation with guarantees of origin" how the energy sources that cannot be verified (gray electricity) could be completely eliminated. Based on this report, the full declaration was included in the proposal of 1 February 2017 for the revision of the Energy Ordinance.
