Switzerland 147
Our exploration of these two consequential risks shows that both can be
mostly avoided and a fully renewable electricity supply for Switzerland can be
realised at reasonable costs without an increased risk of supply interruptions.
The only option that does not work is to rely on PV only. Without overwhelming technical or economic constraints, this means the choice between
pathways is essentially a matter of public preference. And here we find that it is
not immediately clear that any of these supply options can be realised.
Implementation risks (barriers)
The implementation barriers we find for the Swiss ES2050 are of a social and
political nature rather than, for example, lack of access to financing. For
example, some legal bottlenecks need to be sorted out, such as cost- sharing or
compensation for people who rent and wish to install PV on the roof of the
building they live in. This particular problem of agency is especially acute in
Switzerland as 80% of the population live in rented houses and apartments, and
it requires a legal solution.
However, the largest perceived barrier to renewables in Switzerland is public
acceptance. The prevailing view is that the high attachment of the Swiss to
their traditional landscape, and the large number of landscape and nature
NGOs, make the construction of power lines, wind turbines, PV farms, and conspicuous rooftop PV in historic centres likely to attract opposition. Several
research projects are underway to address this directly, and most of the projects
in NFP70, a research programme about electricity supply options for Switzerland, include an ‘acceptance’ component in addition to the technical research
at the heart of these projects.
We could obviate acceptance issues in Switzerland in theory by outsourcing
electricity supply to other (neighbouring) countries and the Swiss transmission
grid could most likely handle the import load. However, this leads to two potential problems.
First, citizens in these countries may be equally or even more unhappy to have
energy infrastructure in their environment to supply someone else, though this
might be offset by the business opportunity of selling the electricity. Moreover, if
all of Europe follows in the footsteps of a renewable Switzerland, the required international interconnect capacity would need to grow by a factor of 6 to 12 (Rodríguez
et al., 2014). Expansion of transmission lines would especially be needed in areas
where renewable electricity is generated, which are usually peripheral areas.
Second, this creates a reliance on other countries. The Swiss have a strong
interest and desire for energy independence, often expressed as a desire for electric autarky (Trutnevyte, 2014). This has some dissonance with the fact that
Switzerland currently imports 75% of its energy in the form of natural gas, oil,
and uranium to fuel nuclear plants (BfE, 2016), and also with recent efforts by
utilities to invest in renewable electricity generation abroad. Regardless of the
current realities of energy use, independence is an aspiration that makes imports,
renewable or fossil, less politically attractive.
Our exploration of these two consequential risks shows that both can be
mostly avoided and a fully renewable electricity supply for Switzerland can be
realised at reasonable costs without an increased risk of supply interruptions.
The only option that does not work is to rely on PV only. Without overwhelming technical or economic constraints, this means the choice between
pathways is essentially a matter of public preference. And here we find that it is
not immediately clear that any of these supply options can be realised.
Implementation risks (barriers)
The implementation barriers we find for the Swiss ES2050 are of a social and
political nature rather than, for example, lack of access to financing. For
example, some legal bottlenecks need to be sorted out, such as cost- sharing or
compensation for people who rent and wish to install PV on the roof of the
building they live in. This particular problem of agency is especially acute in
Switzerland as 80% of the population live in rented houses and apartments, and
it requires a legal solution.
However, the largest perceived barrier to renewables in Switzerland is public
acceptance. The prevailing view is that the high attachment of the Swiss to
their traditional landscape, and the large number of landscape and nature
NGOs, make the construction of power lines, wind turbines, PV farms, and conspicuous rooftop PV in historic centres likely to attract opposition. Several
research projects are underway to address this directly, and most of the projects
in NFP70, a research programme about electricity supply options for Switzerland, include an ‘acceptance’ component in addition to the technical research
at the heart of these projects.
We could obviate acceptance issues in Switzerland in theory by outsourcing
electricity supply to other (neighbouring) countries and the Swiss transmission
grid could most likely handle the import load. However, this leads to two potential problems.
First, citizens in these countries may be equally or even more unhappy to have
energy infrastructure in their environment to supply someone else, though this
might be offset by the business opportunity of selling the electricity. Moreover, if
all of Europe follows in the footsteps of a renewable Switzerland, the required international interconnect capacity would need to grow by a factor of 6 to 12 (Rodríguez
et al., 2014). Expansion of transmission lines would especially be needed in areas
where renewable electricity is generated, which are usually peripheral areas.
Second, this creates a reliance on other countries. The Swiss have a strong
interest and desire for energy independence, often expressed as a desire for electric autarky (Trutnevyte, 2014). This has some dissonance with the fact that
Switzerland currently imports 75% of its energy in the form of natural gas, oil,
and uranium to fuel nuclear plants (BfE, 2016), and also with recent efforts by
utilities to invest in renewable electricity generation abroad. Regardless of the
current realities of energy use, independence is an aspiration that makes imports,
renewable or fossil, less politically attractive.