Switzerland Begins Work on First Solar Park On Alpines

As part its “Solar Express” programme, Switzerland is planning to develop large solar farms in high-mountain regions to generate lots of extra renewable power, especially in winter, and the first such plant is coming up on an area of 300,000 sq. m. near Sedrun in southeast part of the country.

The $100 million solar park is being built together by Energia Alpina, the local energy operator, and renewable energy firm Aventron after receiving support from the local community through a vote. The project even enjoyed the full confidence of the local environmental organisations from its conception.

One of the advantages of generating solar power in the Alpines is that more power can be produced compared with many lowland solar panels are covered by in fog in winter.

“The locals do not want to sell everything to the lowlands. The fact that it was a local project was decisive for voters’ approval, Energia Alpina president Ciril Deplazes told the Keystone-SDA news agency.

The Swiss Parliament has enacted a legislation to expedite development of solar parks in the high mountain areas two years ago and the government has received around 50 applications from various companies.

However, one third of them have been abandoned for several reasons including opposition from the local people and funding issues. People in canton Valais have expressed reservations on establishing solar parks in their area in September last year.

Only four projects received the government’s approval and the first one at Sedrun, with an installed capacity of 19.3 MWs has seen light of the day so far. The foundation ceremony took place a fortnight ago to install nearly 5,700 solar panels on the far. The power produced is expected to meet the demands of 6,500 residences locally.

Installation of new panels is expected to begin next month and once completed, the electricity generated will be nearly ten times of the power produced by the largest existing solar plant in the Swiss Alps, on the Muttsee dam.

Switzerland’s energy and infrastructure group BKW has also announced plans to install six alpine solar power plants in Bern canton, with an aggregate installed capacity of around 70 MW.

On completion, all these projects will generate close to 100 GWh annually with almost 45 GWh expected during the winter months between October and March.

At least 10% of the total expected production will be consumed on site or fed into the grid by 2025-end, which will grow to 100% by 2030-end.

Swiss Plans for NZE

Switzerland has pledged to achieve net zero emissions (NZE) by 2050 and the legislation was part of the government’s plans to meet the target. The legislation is aimed at clearing all hurdles and the government has announced subsidies to the tune of 60% for the developers with the condition that they should commission the plans and connect to the grid from the end of 2025.

According to a study, installing solar panels on mountaintops in the Swiss Alps could generate at least 16 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity a year, or almost half of the solar power the authorities aim to produce annually by 2050. In fact, some of the mountainous regions in China, France and Austria have such parks.