immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Axpo

  • Change planned at the top of the energy company

    Change planned at the top of the energy company

    Roland Leuenberger has been proposed by the Board of Directors of energy producer Axpo as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors. He is to replace the current Chairman Thomas Sieber, who has announced his resignation in December 2024. Leuenberger is currently CEO of Repower AG. According to a press release, he will relinquish his current position before taking on the new mandate at Axpo on 1 June 2026.

    Roland Leuenberger has been CEO of Repower AG since 2019. Prior to this, he held management positions and worked as an entrepreneur for large international organisations at the interface between the energy and financial sectors. According to Axpo, he has “proven leadership skills, expertise, strategic foresight and a keen political sense” and is therefore ideally suited to lead the Board of Directors.

    Thomas Sieber has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Axpo Holding AG since 2016 and has led the company through challenging times, according to the press release. After ten years of leadership, he will now hand over the position to Leuenberger in June 2026.

  • Alpine solar project launched over 2000 metres

    Alpine solar project launched over 2000 metres

    Axpo, based in Baden, has commissioned STRABAG to realise an alpine solar project next to the Lai da Nalps reservoir above the village of Serdun in Graubünden. Around 1,500 solar panels and a technology centre will be installed in the NalpSolar project at over 2,000 metres above sea level, the Schlieren-based construction company announced in a press release. The first 10 per cent of the plant is due to go into operation this December.

    “The construction work is technically demanding, logistically challenging and ecologically sensitive, but above all a milestone for the energy transition in Switzerland,” writes STRABAG. The individual solar tables and other components have to be transported along a narrow, single-lane mountain road. The road, which is normally closed, was built by Axpo in the 1960s as an access road for the reservoir.

    As there are no storage facilities on the construction site, only the material that is immediately needed is transported. “The logistics now run like clockwork,” explains construction foreman François Borner in the press release. “Instead of being stressful, it is now easy to plan.” In the press release, STRABAG cites the uneven ground and respect for the nature conservation zones in the construction area as further challenges in the project.

    Due to the altitude, NalpSolar will produce a lot of electricity, especially in the winter months, explains STRABAG. The construction company is aiming to complete the work in 2028. The electricity from NalpSolar is reserved for the SBB power grid for the next 20 years.

  • Schaffhausen rejects new Axpo contract

    Schaffhausen rejects new Axpo contract

    On August 18, a majority of 53.4 percent of Schaffhausen voters rejected the replacement of the old founding agreement of Nordostschweizer Kraftwerke (NOK) with a new Axpo shareholders’ agreement. The proposal failed in 16 of the 26 municipalities, including the city of Schaffhausen, Neuhausen, Beringen and Stein am Rhein.

    The voters thus went against their government and the cantonal council, which approved the new agreement by 52 votes to one, according to the voting magazine in January. They argued that the old NOK contract from 1914 was no longer appropriate for an internationally active group with around 7,000 employees.

    Opponents warned of a possible privatization of the energy producer. A majority of five contracting parties could decide on the sale of the company, provided they also held a majority of the voting rights. The canton of Schaffhausen currently holds 7.9 percent.

    The approval of all shareholders is required for the new shareholders’ agreement to be accepted. The other shareholders have already approved the agreement. The canton of Zurich and its cantonal utility EKZ are the largest shareholders with 18.3 and 18.4 percent respectively, followed by Aargau and its cantonal utility AEW with 14 percent each. St.Gallen and the two cantons of Appenzell hold a 12.5 percent stake via St.Gallisch-Appenzellische Kraftwerke(SAK), Thurgau holds 12.3 percent via EKT, Glarus 1.7 percent and Zug 0.9 percent.

  • Axpo wants to produce hydrogen

    Axpo wants to produce hydrogen

    Axpo wants to produce green hydrogen from the hydropower of the Rhine in the future. For this purpose, a hydrogen production plant at the Eglisau-Glattfelden power plant is to be put into operation as early as autumn 2022, according to a media release . This should produce 350 tons of hydrogen annually. According to Axpo, this can save over 1.5 million liters of diesel per year in road traffic.

    The new hydrogen production plant will have an output of 2.5 megawatts. However, it can be expanded to 5 megawatts. Axpo is also planning to implement additional systems at other locations. The company has already set up its own department for the hydrogen business area.

    Axpo works with Opfikon-based Hydrospider AG to transport the hydrogen to the filling stations. This is a joint venture between H2 Energy , Alpiq and Linde GmbH . Both Axpo and Hydrospider see great potential for hydrogen in the mobility sector. There are already more than 50 trucks with fuel cells in Switzerland today. According to the partners, it should be more than 1,600 by 2026.

    Axpo had already planned a hydrogen production plant for the same power plant in 2015. At that time, however, the project was not pursued because the sales volume of hydrogen remained below the company's expectations. "Since then, the fight against climate change has gained significantly in importance and hydrogen has proven to be a suitable energy source for the decarbonisation of mobility and industry," said Guy Bühler, Head of Hydrogen at Axpo, quoted in the press release.

  • Axpo implements alpine solar systems with partners

    Axpo implements alpine solar systems with partners

    The large-scale solar system originally initiated by Axpo on the Muttsee dam is becoming the AlpinSolar joint project between Denner, Axpo and IWB . As everyone said in a press release of the same name, the energy suppliers Axpo and IWB will install and commission the largest alpine solar system in Switzerland in the summer. Almost 5,000 solar modules are to produce around 3.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year on the south-facing dam. Discounter Denner will take it off for 20 years.

    At 2500 meters above sea level, a lot of renewable energy can be generated even in the winter months. Since the system is installed on an existing dam, it is particularly environmentally friendly. This is another reason why AlpinSolar is “a system that the energy transition needs”.

    Nevertheless, “due to the lack of framework conditions, such systems are hardly economically feasible today”, regrets Axpo CEO Christoph Brand. “Nevertheless, we decided, together with strong partners, to implement this lighthouse project” and “to set an example”. "We see the project as an important contribution to the discussion for the upcoming legislative revisions."

    IWB, the energy supplier for the canton of Basel-Stadt, has a 49 percent share in the project. It goes well with the company, says IWB CEO Claus Schmidt, because "the expansion of electricity production from solar energy also in Switzerland" is part of its own strategy.

  • Aare power plant in Klingnau generates more electricity

    Aare power plant in Klingnau generates more electricity

    The Aare power plant in Klingnau produced a total of 202 million kilowatt hours of electricity last year, according to a media release . This corresponds roughly to the consumption of 45,000 four-person households. Production was higher than in the previous year due to slightly higher discharge volumes. At that time, the power plant had produced 186 million kilowatt hours of electricity.

    The Aare power plant in Klingnau is 60 percent owned by the Baden-based energy company Axpo . The remaining shares belong to AEW Energie AG , based in Aarau. The annual costs borne by the partners in 2020 totaled 9.7 million francs, which is slightly below the costs of the previous year (10 million francs). The production costs were around 4.78 cents per kilowatt hour.

    The Board of Directors of Aarekraftwerk Klingnau AG has approved the annual report and the accounts for the 2019/20 financial year, according to the information, at the beginning of the week for the attention of the General Meeting. This will take place on March 12th.

  • Axpo goes to Greece

    Axpo goes to Greece

    The Swiss energy producer Axpo will in future have a permanent branch in Greece. According to a press release , the company wants to offer services to Greek customers and partner companies there. That ranges from risk management to support with market access. Axpo will therefore be active in Greece across the entire energy supply chain. The Athens office is headed by Vasileios Machias, the newly appointed Country Manager. Axpo reports that he has more than 16 years of experience in international energy trading and has worked for numerous large energy trading companies such as EDF and Gazprom.

    Domenico De Luca, Head of Trading and Sales at Axpo, is quoted in the press release: “We know the importance of local market knowledge for our customers. So I am all the more pleased that Vasileios Machias has joined Axpo and will manage the newly established branch in Greece. ”Axpo will support its customers in the transition to a low-carbon economy with tailor-made services.

    The plan is to work with non-state electricity producers in the use of renewable energies. In addition, according to the announcement, Axpo will support local energy providers with the supply of liquidity to cover their market risks.

    According to its own information, Axpo has 5,000 employees working for customers in 40 countries in Europe, North America and Asia in order to offer innovative energy solutions based on the latest technology.

  • New large storage system should help stabilize the network

    New large storage system should help stabilize the network

    CKW and Axpo are responding to the expansion of volatile renewable energies. In 2021 you will be implementing a battery storage system in Rathausen which, according to a CKW announcement , can be used for three different markets at the same time for the first time. On the one hand, the system can provide electricity when it is needed, thereby breaking the peak loads. On the other hand, it should help Swissgrid to keep the voltage in the grid stable. Ultimately, it helps to quickly balance out differences between the supply of electricity and demand at any time.

    The system consists of two large batteries, each weighing 50 tons, and each housed in a 12 meter long container. It has an output of 6.25 megawatts. That is enough to supply 15,000 households with electricity for one hour.

    The system will be installed from mid-2021 and integrated into CKW's medium-voltage network.

  • Axpo President calls for a sliding market premium

    Axpo President calls for a sliding market premium

    In a joint guest commentary for the “Tages-Anzeiger”, two leading representatives of the Swiss energy industry take a hard line against the Federal Council's plans to implement the Energy Strategy 2050. “Switzerland has the wrong instruments for promoting renewable energies. We have a suggestion on how this can be changed, ”write Thomas Sieber, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the energy company Axpo , and Gianni Operto, President of AEE Suisse , the umbrella organization for renewable energies and energy efficiency.

    The proposal can be summarized in two words: Moving market premium. The Federal Council proposes a model with investment contributions for the energy law revision. The amounts are fixed in advance. From the authors' point of view, the problem is that it will hardly be possible to determine the most economically efficient contribution amount. Either there is unnecessary over-funding or too little funds are budgeted, which leads to the shutdown of plants that are no longer profitable. The sliding market premium, for which a “broad alliance of the Swiss energy industry” advocates, is already being used successfully in other countries. Production capacities would be put out to tender in a competition. "Those interested with the lowest offers are guaranteed a minimum remuneration for the electricity produced over a certain period of time – but only if the market price does not cover this." The sliding market premium supports precisely and only as much as necessary. It is therefore not a subsidy, but a fair price tag for a central service.

    Since the expansion of renewable capacities in Switzerland is currently not profitable for electricity suppliers, Swiss energy suppliers and institutional investors invested abroad. At the end of 2019, the expansion of renewable capacities financed in this way had increased to 11.5 terawatt hours, almost a fifth of the total annual production in Switzerland.

  • Axpo places green bond via Loanboox

    Axpo places green bond via Loanboox

    Axpo has placed a so-called green bond via the digital capital market platform of the Zurich fintech Loanboox , according to a media release . The fixed-interest bond of CHF 133 million has a term of seven years.

    Axpo intends to use the net proceeds from the bond to invest in renewable energies. The company highlights wind energy and photovoltaic projects. Overall, Axpo wants to use the Green Bond to “strengthen its position as the largest Swiss producer of renewable energies” and expand its group of investors, it is said.

    According to Loanboox, Axpo is the first issuer to place a green bond entirely digitally via the debt capital market platform. "This first bond is proof that our digital process creates added value for all market participants," says Philippe Cayrol, CEO of Loanboox. "We are proud and happy to work with innovative customers and partners to create new standards in terms of transparency, pricing and allocation in the primary market – in Switzerland and Europe," he adds.