Switzerland 143
sites with strong and sustained sunshine or winds – and public acceptance of the
large number of PV panels and wind turbines necessary to make this work.
Foreign renewables
The second pathway is to import renewable electricity from abroad. This would
require a build- up of renewable capacity outside Switzerland to feed into the
Swiss grid. There are two general options: wind power, most likely from the west
coast of Europe like the North Sea, or concentrating solar power (CSP), from
sunny regions like southern Spain or North Africa. This would let the Swiss use
the most abundant renewable resources in and near Europe without having to
build in populated areas, making for cheaper electricity.
Imports are feasible from a grid perspective: Switzerland already has the
transmission lines and interconnections to move large volumes of electricity.
These are currently used for three things: exporting excess electricity in
summer, importing electricity in winter, and transporting electricity from
north- west Europe to Italy. Both imports and exports are equivalent to 75% of
gross national electricity production. Despite this trade, Switzerland sees itself
as self- sufficient, with a net electricity export just under 2% of its total production in 2015 (BfE, 2016). However, the problem for this pathway is that
these power plants are very far from the cities and other demand centres that
they are to supply. Building the infrastructure needed requires action from
larger utilities and co- ordination between the European grid operators, i.e. the
members of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for
Electricity (ENTSO- E). Swiss utilities are already investing in foreign renewables projects but this would need to be scaled up. Simultaneously, grid operators are in charge of constructing transmission lines to connect this new
supply. This has not always gone smoothly; a major high- voltage line that was
to connect wind farms in the Baltic with cities and factories in southern
Germany has been opposed by residents and NGOs because of the landscape
impacts and alleged health impacts it would have. Furthermore, it runs close
to the eastern border and some have alleged it was planned to also carry Czech
nuclear power, which seriously undermined the green narrative that supported
this transmission line.
The main risks to the foreign renewables pathway are the construction time
and vulnerability of the transmission infrastructure – the latter more due to
extreme weather than terrorism – and the acceptability to the Swiss public of
foreign control over power supply. A further risk is in the acceptability of the
power plants and transmissions lines for foreign benefit to the residents of other
countries. Assuming we focus on the offshore wind and CSP plants in sparsely
populated areas, which are anyway more productive, international transmissions
lines face the largest risk of popular resistance.
sites with strong and sustained sunshine or winds – and public acceptance of the
large number of PV panels and wind turbines necessary to make this work.
Foreign renewables
The second pathway is to import renewable electricity from abroad. This would
require a build- up of renewable capacity outside Switzerland to feed into the
Swiss grid. There are two general options: wind power, most likely from the west
coast of Europe like the North Sea, or concentrating solar power (CSP), from
sunny regions like southern Spain or North Africa. This would let the Swiss use
the most abundant renewable resources in and near Europe without having to
build in populated areas, making for cheaper electricity.
Imports are feasible from a grid perspective: Switzerland already has the
transmission lines and interconnections to move large volumes of electricity.
These are currently used for three things: exporting excess electricity in
summer, importing electricity in winter, and transporting electricity from
north- west Europe to Italy. Both imports and exports are equivalent to 75% of
gross national electricity production. Despite this trade, Switzerland sees itself
as self- sufficient, with a net electricity export just under 2% of its total production in 2015 (BfE, 2016). However, the problem for this pathway is that
these power plants are very far from the cities and other demand centres that
they are to supply. Building the infrastructure needed requires action from
larger utilities and co- ordination between the European grid operators, i.e. the
members of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for
Electricity (ENTSO- E). Swiss utilities are already investing in foreign renewables projects but this would need to be scaled up. Simultaneously, grid operators are in charge of constructing transmission lines to connect this new
supply. This has not always gone smoothly; a major high- voltage line that was
to connect wind farms in the Baltic with cities and factories in southern
Germany has been opposed by residents and NGOs because of the landscape
impacts and alleged health impacts it would have. Furthermore, it runs close
to the eastern border and some have alleged it was planned to also carry Czech
nuclear power, which seriously undermined the green narrative that supported
this transmission line.
The main risks to the foreign renewables pathway are the construction time
and vulnerability of the transmission infrastructure – the latter more due to
extreme weather than terrorism – and the acceptability to the Swiss public of
foreign control over power supply. A further risk is in the acceptability of the
power plants and transmissions lines for foreign benefit to the residents of other
countries. Assuming we focus on the offshore wind and CSP plants in sparsely
populated areas, which are anyway more productive, international transmissions
lines face the largest risk of popular resistance.