immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Strom

  • Swiss electricity from the socket is 75 percent green

    Swiss electricity from the socket is 75 percent green

    In 2019, around 75 percent of the electricity from Swiss sockets came from renewable energies. This is evident from the data collected annually by the Federal Office of Energy ( SFOE ).

    According to a media release , the data published on Monday show that 66 percent of the electricity consumed comes from large-scale hydropower. 8.4 percent is generated by solar and wind energy as well as from small hydropower and biomass. In 2019, their share rose from 7.85 percent in the previous year to 8.4 percent. Around 95 percent of this was produced in Switzerland and a good three quarters were funded by the feed-in tariff system ( ESV ).

    Compared to the electricity actually supplied, the shares of renewable sources in Swiss electricity production are lower: 56 percent of the electricity produced in Switzerland comes from hydropower and 6 percent from new renewable energies. In this context, the SFOE points out that the Swiss Sockets not only supply electricity from Swiss production.

    19.1 percent of the delivery mix comes from nuclear energy (2018: 17.3 percent). The share in Switzerland's production mix is significantly higher at 35 percent, some of which is exported. Almost 2 percent in the Swiss delivery mix is obtained from waste and fossil fuels.

    The origin and composition of 4 percent of the electricity supplied cannot be verified. Since this so-called gray electricity is only permitted in exceptional cases from delivery year 2020, according to the SFOE, large consumers are apparently increasingly switching to domestic nuclear energy. Since most of the neighboring countries do not issue any guarantees of origin for electricity from conventional power plants, Switzerland has introduced replacement certificates. Coal electricity from abroad can be declared as such and no longer has to be summarized under gray electricity. This share of coal-fired electricity halved to half a percent between 2018 and 2019. However, electricity-intensive companies recently obtained replacement certificates for electricity from fossil and nuclear sources from European power plants.

  • Solar power could solve Swiss energy problems

    Solar power could solve Swiss energy problems

    Only photovoltaics can show Switzerland the way to a CO2-free future, writes the Deputy Director of the Federal Materials Testing and Research Institute ( Empa ), Peter Richner, in an article for Avenir Suisse . It is based on the so-called Kaya identity, which the Japanese scientist Yoichi Kaya used in 1993 to describe the total amount of anthropogenic CO2 emissions as a function of four factors. The fourth alone, a reduction in the CO2 footprint, has enough potential, according to Richner, to achieve Switzerland's climate goals – through massive expansion of photovoltaics.

    If only 50 percent of all Swiss roofs were equipped with solar modules, electricity production from nuclear power plants would be superfluous. Richner demonstrates this in terms of electricity supply and demand for 2015. However, if all roofs and increasingly also building facades were equipped with solar panels, the output gap in winter could also be compensated for. At the same time, however, solutions would have to be found in order to be able to utilize the largest possible proportion of the electricity surplus in summer, both on a daily basis and at other times of the year.

    For increased flexibility of use, day storage systems could shift loads, for example through batteries or hydrogen. Digitization offers opportunities for the necessary creation of flexibility in consumption and production. Excess electricity could be converted into hydrogen in summer and possibly, together with CO2 from the air, into methane or liquid synthetic hydrocarbons. These chemical energy carriers can be stored easily and used in a variety of ways. And finally, seasonal heat storage systems could be charged with excess electricity in order to reduce energy requirements in winter.

    The potential of energy efficiency, another influenceable factor of the Kaya identity, is far from being exhausted, says Richner. However, achievements in this area would be compensated for by higher electricity demand, fossil electricity imports from abroad in winter or increased electricity consumption.

    In order to achieve a climate-neutral Switzerland, one of the four factors in the Kaya identity must be zero or the remaining product is offset with CO2-negative technologies such as the separation of CO2 from the air and its storage. Politicians must provide a decisive framework for this, as long as the nuclear power plants are still running.

  • Hans Eberle AG produces its own green electricity

    Hans Eberle AG produces its own green electricity

    Around 10 percent of the electricity consumption of the metal goods factory Hans Eberle AG has come from in-house production since this summer. According to the company's media release, the heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting of the new company building, which was also completed this summer, are powered by clean energy from the newly installed hydropower screw in Ortsbach. The Francis turbine that was used earlier "got out" in 2014 after more than 100 years of operation, as the company reports. With this investment, Hans Eberle AG wants to underline its commitment to the sustainable use of resources and make a contribution to climate protection.

    Hans Eberle AG, together with other members of the cooperative, uses the Ennendaner Ortsbach to produce its own electricity. The water is led from the Linth into the Ortsbach and has a constant flow of three cubic meters of water per second, which is quite sufficient for electricity production. The use of water power from the Ortsbach has a long tradition in Ennenda; it used to be used in the textile industry for weaving fabrics.

  • Meyer Burger wants to manufacture solar modules in Glarus

    Meyer Burger wants to manufacture solar modules in Glarus

    The Thun-based system manufacturer Meyer Burger wants to set up a production facility for solar panels in Linthal GL. The planned plant will have a capacity of 400 megawatts and employ over 100 people in three-shift operation, according to a statement from the Association of Swiss Electricity Companies ( VSE ).

    The project is related to the planned realignment of Meyer Burger. The company based in Gwatt BE no longer wants to build and sell machines for the production of panels in the future, but instead wants to get into panel production itself.

    The main argument in favor of locating the plant in Linthal is a solar park project on the Limmernsee in Glarus Süd, 1860 meters above sea level. A floating photovoltaic system with a capacity of 250 megawatts per year is to be installed there. The Limmern Solar Park (SPL) on the storage lake of Kraftwerke Linth-Limmern AG ( KLL , Axpo ) could generate 300 gigawatt hours of electricity and thus cover the needs of 75,000 to 100,000 four-person households.

    There are other advantages that speak in favor of Glarus. In this way, not only is the inexpensive energy supply guaranteed by the Technischen Betriebe Glarus Süd ( tbgs ), but also the building land is available. In addition, the canton of Glarus is ready to set tax incentives. The plant also benefits from the efficient approval process, the rail connection for goods transport and the interesting Swiss market.