Renewable energy in Switzerland

Renewable energy has become more and more important to Switzerland. Since 1990, the proportion of renewable energy to the total energy consumption has risen by 10 percent and now makes up more than one quarter. The most relevant renewable energy that is being produced in Switzerland is hydropower, which takes up about 60 percent. There are currently 682 hydropower plants in operation. Unfortunately, the further expansion of the hydropower plants is rather challenging, since suitable places to build new hydropower plants are almost used up. For that reason, scientists are investigating ways to optimise the existing plants in order to make them more efficient.

Solar energy on the other hand only accounts for less than 20 percent, which makes it amongst biogas and wind energy the least significant energy source in the overall consumption. However, the use of solar energy shows the biggest increase of all. It gets consistently more relevant especially in the private and industrial sector. In addition, there have been approaches on so-called solar farms or parks. Suitable locations to install them are wide fields or slopes (which are rather limited in Switzerland), but there are also swimming solar parks, where the photovoltaics are attached to floatable devices on the lake. In 2019, a Swiss company built the first ever swimming solar park worldwide. It is located on the Lac des Toules, which is a lake on a mountain in the region Bourg-Saint-Pierre, Switzerland. It is 1,810 meters above sea level and covers an area of 2,240 m2. During the period of 2024 until 2028, it is planned to expand the park. According to research, the solar park is then supposed to produce 22 million KwH yearly, which would cover the amount of the energy consumption of 6,100 households.  

Currently, the largest solar park in Switzerland was built in 2022 and is located on the Muttsee-dam, 2,500 meters above sea level. The photovoltaics are positioned on the hillside of the mountain and face the south, so that the sun radiates them all day long. The solar park produces around 3.3 million KwH yearly. The park especially makes an important contribution in the overall energy production in the winter. In the winter, the solar panels in the midlands and the cities are often covered by fog and can therefore only produce one quarter of the energy they produce during summer. To the contrary, the solar park on the Muttseedam still produces approx. 50 percent of its summer production.  

In 2021, the Swiss Federal Office of Energy started a new program in order to help achieve the climate goals that Switzerland has set for the year 2050. The Energy Strategy 2050 has already been a central topic in the last edition of the CMS Renewable Energy Guide and aims for a carbon-free economy by 2050.  

SWEET (Swiss Energy research for the Energy Transition) focuses inter alia on research in developing and supporting renewable energy. The program periodically publishes research challenges or topics companies or universities can apply for. A committee selects the best proposal, which will then be funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. Recent topics were for example "integration of renewables" or "sustainable fuels". The program also publishes case studies and analyses the sustainability and resilience of Switzerland. The analysis is based on multiple factors like the environment, natural resources, public health, economics, supply security and social well-being. The aim is to locate long-term issues that could interfere with the energy strategy in order to prevent negative fluctuations. 

The project "EDGE" (Enabling Decentralized renewable Generation in the Swiss cities, midlands, and the alps) is one of the funded projects, which is coordinated by Swiss universities (EPFL and the University of Geneva). EDGE tries to promote the renewable energy sector by developing pilot projects with typical local renewable energy adapted to the three Swiss regions (Swiss alps, midlands and the cities). The recent insights are summarized below:  

• Swiss alps: Their analysis shows that the Swiss alps provide favourable circumstances for solar energy because of the high cloud line and the various unused space. Furthermore, solar panels in the alps can produce up to 50 percent more energy than in the midlands due to the cold air, the UV-radiation and the reflexion of the sunlight on the snow. Expanding the solar energy grid in the alps would provide a reliable energy source even during the winter. 
• Midlands: Biomass is the biggest energy source in the midlands. Besides that there is a great potential for wind energy. However, the research and the past show that despite the potential, the population of the midlands are usually dismissive of changes in the energy production, which makes it harder to expand the renewable energy sector. 
• Cities: A significant part of the energy production in the cities is elicited by anthropogenic biomass, geothermal or surface water heat pumps. Although due to the high population in the cities, it is more conceivable to focus on individual energy production such as heat pumps or solar panels. This can be encouraged by regulations, which has already turned out to be a positive influence. 

The fund consists of public shareholders such as municipalities and cities but also to a considerable part of private shareholders. It currently disposes of 136.4 million Swiss francs, which is accessible during the period of 2021 until 2032. In a recent consultation in June 2023, the Swiss Federal Council announced that they are planning to collect and allocate additional funds for the program and to raise another 135 million Swiss francs. The additional funds are dedicated to support projects in relation to energy storage as well as energy production. 

In June 2023, 59% of the Swiss people voted in favour of approving the Climate and Innovation Act. The Climate and Innovation Act served as a counter-proposal to the glacier initiative rejected in 2019, which aspired to include the goals of the Paris Agreement (2015) in the Swiss Constitution. The demands were, among other things, to forbid the use of fossil fuels such as petroleum. The Climate and Innovation Act follows many of the same goals but calls for less severe measures. The acceptance of the counter-proposal is a further step in fighting the climate change to which Switzerland is particularly exposed because of the alps. Especially the glaciers are impacted by the heat increase and have lost almost 60% of their volume since 1850. 

The goal of the Climate and Innovation Act is to reduce greenhouse gas in order for Switzerland to become climate-neutral by 2050. Meaning that Switzerland should produce more energy itself instead of importing it as well as to reduce its consumption of mineral oil and natural gas to a minimum. Around one quarter of the greenhouse gas is caused by homeowners that heat with oil or gas. For that reason, the changes of the Act primarily focus on the individual. In contrast to the glacier initiative, the consumption of fossil fuels is not prohibited but should decrease due to for example financial benefits.  

The main measures or developments to achieve such goals are: 

The main objective is to reduce the greenhouse gas to become climate-neutral. However, some sectors, for example agriculture, most likely cannot reduce their CO2-emissions to zero, so the Act aims at fostering the use of so-called greenhouse gas removal technologies. These technologies enable to withdraw some of the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and store it long-term (one Swiss company active in this field is Climeworks AG). It can safely be stored in forests, the ground or concrete for example. The amendment to the law demands that by the year 2050, the amount of stored energy must be higher than the amount of the remaining CO2 in the atmosphere. The new law also sets specific goals for the government to achieve. With the usage of the greenhouse gas removal technologies, the first set goal is to reduce CO2-Emission by a minimum of 64 percent in the period between 2031 and 2040. 

Furthermore, all Swiss companies need to become climate-neutral as well, which requires them to make changes primarily in their production. Companies who invest in innovative technologies in order to reduce their CO2-emission will get financial support by the government. The Climate and Innovation Act obliges the government to provide funds of 200 million Swiss francs in pursuance of the climate strategy. 

As mentioned above, individual homeowners are also significantly contributing to the climate crisis due to heating with fossil fuels. In addition, most people own an electric heating-system. Electric heating accounts for 10 percent of the electricity consumption in Switzerland. It is very inefficient, which is why the government launched a so-called "Impuls"-program, which will financially support homeowners who replace their "old" heating-system with renewable heating like solar panels or heat pumps. By virtue of the Climate and Innovation Act, the government is legally obliged to provide yearly funds of 200 million Swiss francs during the next 10 years.