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Tag: swissolar

  • Switzerland continues to massively expand solar power

    Switzerland continues to massively expand solar power

    The expansion of solar power reached a new record in 2024, according to a statement from Swissolar. According to the industry association, systems with a total output of 1,798 megawatts were installed, an increase of 10 per cent compared to the previous year. In total, 8170 megawatts were installed by the end of 2024. This generated 5961 gigawatt hours of electricity.

    Solar power accounted for 10.4 per cent of electricity demand in 2024. In the previous year, it was 8.25 per cent. Swissolar expects a share of 14 per cent by 2025. “Solar power is already a central component of our energy supply today and is well on its way to becoming the second mainstay of our electricity supply alongside hydropower,” said Matthias Egli, Managing Director of Swissolar, in the press release.

    Swissolar also emphasises the importance of solar power for the winter months. Around 2,400 gigawatt hours of solar power were generated between the beginning of October 2024 and mid-April 2025, around a third of annual production.

    The number of newly installed battery storage systems grew by 4 per cent in 2024. In single-family homes, 47 per cent of all solar installations were already equipped with battery storage systems, compared to just 42 per cent in the previous year. The total installed storage capacity at the end of 2024 was already 896 megawatt hours, enough to cover the consumption of 100,000 households for one day.

  • Photovoltaics accelerate growth

    Photovoltaics accelerate growth

    The share of solar power in the total electricity consumption in Switzerland has reached almost 6 percent, explains Swissolar in a statement . The association of the Swiss solar energy industry relies on the solar energy statistics published by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy . According to her, the expansion of photovoltaics in 2021 rose by 43 percent year-on-year to 683 megawatts. In total, systems with a total capacity of around 3.65 gigawatts have been installed. They produced a total of 2.84 terawatt hours of solar power in 2021.

    However, in order to close the gap created by the planned phase-out of fossil fuels and nuclear power, solar power production would have to be increased to 45 terawatt hours per year, says Swissolar. This goal can be achieved by using almost 40 percent of the currently existing roof areas by 2050. In an 11-point plan , Swissolar sets out how solar production can be increased to 25 terawatt hours by 2035. “This would mean that the water reserves in the reservoirs would be sufficiently large even in late winter and spring, despite the nuclear phase-out,” the statement said.

    For 2022, Swissolar is expecting further growth of 25 to 30 percent to 850 to 900 megawatts. Without bottlenecks in personnel and material, the increase could be even higher, believes Swissolar. The association demands reliable framework conditions for this. “Anyone who is now aligning their professional career with solar energy wants to be sure that the politically induced ‘stop-and-go’ of the last decade is a thing of the past,” Swissolar Managing Director David Stickelberger is quoted as saying in the statement.

  • Swissolar President Jürg Grossen in conversation

    Swissolar President Jürg Grossen in conversation

    In the last year, the expansion of photovoltaics has reached a new record. Will this boom last longer?
    Jürg Grossen: It still has to increase significantly, we have to expand two to three times faster than we have up to now. This is not an easy task. It needs the right funding instruments and incentives, then we can do it.

    Which instruments are you thinking of?
    Grossen: A mix of different measures. We must continue the one-time payment for new solar systems and see that there is enough money in the pot. Today, the extension is limited by the financial resources. We can prevent this by making the grid surcharge fund more flexible and allowing it to temporarily become indebted. And through a slight increase in the network surcharge – the statutory fee per kilowatt hour of electricity consumed.

    In addition, we need incentives to further increase self-consumption of self-produced solar power. Today, under certain conditions, you can join forces within your neighborhood to use solar power together. We must expand these mergers. For example, to regional energy communities, which can also use the local distribution grid for a reduced grid fee. Last but not least, there needs to be a certain level of standardization in the purchase fees for solar power producers. Today in Switzerland, depending on the distribution network operator, there is a fee of between 3 and 20 centimes per kilowatt hour. This is difficult to explain.

    All models for the Swiss energy mix 2050 now assume that photovoltaics will become the second pillar of energy supply alongside hydropower. Why has solar energy been given such weight?
    Grossen: On the one hand, the prices for solar modules have fallen sharply and their performance has steadily improved. This makes the production of solar power cheaper. On the other hand, we have learned in recent years how much photovoltaics can contribute to the power supply. As an apprentice in the late 1980s, I installed solar systems on SAC huts. My boss at the time was convinced that PV systems could never be operated profitably on the grid. He died believing that. In our business, we only started planning PV projects again in the last 15 years, and over time we have seen that a huge contribution can be made – especially in combination with e-mobility. In addition, the PV electricity is produced exactly where it is needed, in the building.

    In the future, Switzerland will primarily lack winter electricity. With which concepts can photovoltaics make a greater contribution to closing this gap?
    We achieve the main share with systems on buildings in the mountain regions and in the Mittelland. The systems already supply 30 percent of the electricity in winter, and even more can be achieved with better orientation and the use of facades and balconies. In the mountains, the yield is twice as high in winter, but the costs are much higher for systems outside of residential areas. Therefore, one should primarily use the existing infrastructure – for example dams, cable car stations or hotels.

    We will have far too much solar power in summer in the future. We have to convert it into synthetic gases or fuels.

    And turn it back into electricity in winter?
    Yes, sensibly in combined heat and power plants, where heat is also generated in winter. With a pure conversion back to electricity, the energy loss is very high. Some of it will also be used as hydrogen, which will reduce losses. For example in trucks or construction machinery.

    You said that we need to expand two or three times faster. It is already difficult to find solar technicians today. How do we recruit the necessary skilled workers?
    With Swissolar, we will start a program that will make it easier for career changers to enter this professional field. Because there will be industries that will need far fewer staff in the future, such as car garages, gas stations or the oil heating industry. It would be great if we could recruit these specialists for solar expansion. In addition, we want to establish training with a federal certificate of proficiency, so that training is possible straight from school.

    The shortage of skilled workers is a major challenge. But we can also become even better as an industry. The assembly of solar systems must become more “industrial”. For the homeowner, it should not make a significant difference whether they have a roof built with or without solar modules.

    The energy policy discussions in recent months have revolved primarily around security of supply and impending gaps. How do you assess the situation?
    I am very glad that this discussion is finally coming to light. Because it is important and justified. The panic that some are spreading is unjustified. We will not be able to solve the problems with new nuclear power plants. In addition to building up a storage reserve for the winter, we have to start with the demand side in particular. Studies say that in the worst case, there could be a power cut for around fifty hours a year. There are enough consumers who would be willing to reduce their electricity consumption for a short period of time if they were compensated for it. So it's not just about additional production, but also about intelligent power consumption. In the future, electric cars will also be able to play a major role here. Because we will not only charge batteries, we will also be able to use them flexibly as storage. This is still not given enough consideration in the whole discussion on security of supply.

    Many were very surprised at how quickly e-mobility has grown over the past two years. You are an electric car driver from the very beginning. Also surprised?
    Not at all. But pleased and relieved. I bought an electric car in 2010 and saw how many kilometers I could drive with just a few PV modules. That was awesome. And the cars have gotten a lot better since then. Today, comfort in e-cars is better than in combustion-powered cars. We owe that to Elon Musk, who showed the industry how it can be done with Tesla.

    What developments do you expect in the field of batteries?
    I have become cautious with such forecasts. When it comes to PV modules and computer chips over the last few decades, we've always heard: it can't get any better or smaller. And we were repeatedly taught better by technological developments. That's why I don't see any hard limits as a matter of principle. Energy density and weight will be much better and electric cars will be cheaper than combustion engines in a few years.

    One more thing is important to me. In the future, we will have to use the batteries more than once: ten years in the car, at least ten years in the building and only then for recycling. We don't need new batteries from the factory in the buildings or the district storage facilities, but can rely on batteries that have been discarded from the e-vehicles.

    In your scenarios, you assume a significant improvement in energy efficiency. This topic has receded somewhat into the background in recent years. Do we need another awareness-raising campaign like the one we did when Federal Councilor Adolf Ogi demonstrated how we could cook eggs while saving energy? Or does technology solve all problems?
    It's certainly not wrong to keep reminding people to use energy efficiently, but it's not primarily about making sacrifices. I still cook my breakfast egg according to the Ogi principle. That was a great idea. However, one must not forget that a great deal has happened in the field of energy efficiency. Today we need significantly less energy per capita. Consumption has become decoupled from population and economic growth. Total energy consumption has also fallen significantly in the last ten years and is now lower than it was in 1990. In addition, the energy efficiency of electronic devices has improved by 30 to 60 percent. And the end of the road has not yet been reached. The currently higher energy prices will certainly also help to make energy efficiency even more attractive.

  • Swissolar wants more sun in standard electricity

    Swissolar wants more sun in standard electricity

    Around 5 percent of annual electricity consumption in Switzerland is currently covered by domestically produced solar electricity, explains Swissolar in a press release . In the standard electricity products of the energy suppliers, however, the proportion of solar electricity is only 1.85 percent on average. The Association of the Swiss Solar Energy Industry is working together with the power comparison service myNewEnergy to increase the solar proportion of standard products to this 5 percent in a first step.

    “This value should be increased annually by at least the amount of additional construction in question,” Swissolar managing director David Stickelberger is quoted in the announcement. “Around 1 percent would correspond to the necessary expansion of photovoltaic systems.”

    The majority of households do not choose a special electricity product and therefore receive the standard offer from the respective energy supplier, explains Swissolar in the press release. If the proportion of solar power in the standard product is increased to the proportion of power consumption, the comparatively expensive power is divided among a large number of consumers, argues Swissolar. This keeps the product price low and opens up new sales markets for providers of solar power who have been “sitting on their clean electricity” up to now.

    “It is important that these certificates come exclusively from Swiss solar systems, because only such certificates make an effective contribution to a safe and clean power supply in our country,” explains Stickelberger. “To replace the nuclear power plant alone, we need 20 terawatt hours of solar power.”

  • Sonnenenergie ist um fast 50 Prozent gewachsen

    Sonnenenergie ist um fast 50 Prozent gewachsen

    Die Statistik Sonnenenergie 2020 des Schweizerischen Fachverbands für Sonnenenergie, Swissolar, belegt, dass der Photovoltaikzubau in der Schweiz gegenüber dem Vorjahr um 48 Prozent gestiegen ist. Damit ist ein Rekordwert von 493 Megawatt erreicht. Die Leistung von nahezu 3 Gigawatt deckte 4,7 Prozent des Strombedarfs im Land.

    Laut einer Medienmitteilung von Swissolar sind die Zuwächse bei Anlagen auf Industrie-, Gewerbe- und Dienstleistungsbauten sowie bei Photovoltaik (PV)-Anlagen über 100 Kilowatt besonders hoch. Die durchschnittliche Anlage war 24,5 Kilowatt gross. Im Vorjahr waren es noch 22,5 Kilowatt. Rund 15 Prozent der PV-Anlagen auf Einfamilienhäusern werden mit einem Batteriespeicher kombiniert. Deren Verkaufszahl wuchs gegenüber dem Vorjahr um 65 Prozent.

    Weltweit wurden im vergangenen Jahr 18 Prozent mehr Gigawatt PV-Leistung installiert als im Vorjahr. Die jährliche Stromproduktion entspricht etwa der von 115 Atomkraftwerken (AKW) von der Grösse Gösgens. Sie deckte 3,7 Prozent des weltweiten Strombedarfs. Gemäss Swissolar-Statistik ist alle 20 Tage die Produktionskapazität eines AKW hinzugekommen.

    Der Verkauf von Kollektoranlagen zur Nutzung der Solarwärme ist um rund 18 Prozent gesunken. Gründe seien unter anderem in der Dominanz von Wärmepumpen im Neubau und bei Heizungssanierungen zu suchen.

    Für die Dekarbonisierung des Energiesystems und für den Ersatz von Atomkraft bedarf es laut Swissolar eines massiven Ausbaus der Solarenergie auf rund 50 Gigawatt, mit einer jährlichen Stromproduktion von 45 Terawattstunden. Dazu müsste die Schweiz jährlich etwa 1500 Megawatt zubauen. Das entspreche dem Dreifachen des jetzigen jährlichen Zubaus.

    Doch gemäss der bundesrätlichen Botschaft vom 18. Juni zum Bundesgesetz über eine sichere Stromversorgung mit erneuerbaren Energien solle dieser Zubau von 2023 bis 2035 lediglich bei 700 Megawatt pro Jahr liegen. Ausserdem enthalte die Gesetzesvorlage Elemente, die den weiteren Ausbau der Solarenergie gefährden.

    „Das Parlament muss hier rasch korrigieren“, fordert Swissolar. Als Wegweiser könne der Beschluss des österreichischen Parlaments dienen, bis 2030 eine hundertprozentig erneuerbare Stromversorgung zu erreichen. Ausserdem sei „auf unverantwortliche und den Volkswillen missachtende Bestrebungen zur Verlängerung der AKW-Laufzeiten zu verzichten“. Nach dem knappen Nein zum CO2-Gesetz sei es nun an den Kantonen, den Ausstieg aus Öl und Gas in Gebäuden zu betreiben.

  • Swissolar calls for a faster pace of solar expansion

    Swissolar calls for a faster pace of solar expansion

    The expansion of solar systems in Switzerland in 2020 was around 30 to 39 percent higher than in the previous year and thus at a record level. That is at least the estimate of the Swissolar association based on the figures already available on the statistics for solar energy 2020, which will be published in July.

    In a communication on the occasion of the National Photovoltaic Conference in Bern, Swisssolar points out that the pace of the expansion must be further accelerated. The Federal Council's Energy Perspectives 2050+ anticipate annual solar power production of 34 terawatt hours by 2050. Swissolar would even aim for 45 terawatt hours. However, the annual expansion for both goals must be increased by a factor of three to four compared to the previous year, according to Swissolar.

    According to Swissolar, the framework conditions would also have to be optimized for a faster pace of expansion. According to the association's assessment, the expansion of photovoltaic systems in Switzerland will mainly take place on the roofs and facades of buildings. An evaluation by Swissolar shows that small and medium-sized systems of less than 150 square meters on the roofs of single and multi-family houses hold almost half of the “easily accessible” solar potential. The association therefore demands that investment security should be created for these systems as a priority. In the medium term, the winter production of electricity is likely to become increasingly important. According to the association, alpine solar systems in particular are likely to play an important role here.

  • Swiss photovoltaics will record record expansion in 2020

    Swiss photovoltaics will record record expansion in 2020

    Photovoltaics in Switzerland was expanded significantly in the past year 2020. According to a press release, according to the Swiss Association for Solar Energy, this was not enough to achieve the climate targets. The professional association Swissolar represents the interests of 740 association members with around 6000 jobs in the solar energy industry. In the announcement from Swissolar, the additional photovoltaic capacity installed in 2020 is estimated at an output of 430 to 460 megawatts. The final annual figures will not be available until the middle of the year.

    The new installations correspond to a growth of 30 to 39 percent compared to 2019. According to Swissolar, the number of registrations at the Pronovo certification and funding agency suggests that the growth not only occurred in small systems, but also in those with an output of over 100 kilowatts.

    From the point of view of the association, however, more needs to be done. "In order to replace the nuclear power that is no longer available and to cover the additional electricity demand for the electrification of traffic and heating, the annual expansion must be increased to around 1500 megawatts over the next few years – almost four times as much as last year," said Swissolar CEO David Stickelberger quoted. This is also provided for in the recently published Energy Perspectives 2050+ by the Federal Office of Energy.

    From the perspective of the solar industry, a number of political measures are required to achieve this. Greater support for systems without self-consumption is therefore necessary. This requires state incentives so that the roofs of stables, warehouses, parking lot canopies, noise barriers and other infrastructures are equipped with solar systems. Often this is not the case because the electricity cannot be consumed on the spot. Further measures are the obligation to generate electricity for new buildings, the removal of hurdles in the construction of open-space systems, which often only get a building permit with difficulty.

    From Swissolar's point of view, there is also a need for federal and cantonal funding for solar thermal systems. The contribution of solar heating to the energy transition is still underestimated.

  • Public transport should expand photovoltaics

    Public transport should expand photovoltaics

    Photovoltaics offers all public transport companies the opportunity to take a large part of their energy supply into their own hands. A new guide from the Federal Office of Transport refers to this. The authority developed it together with the Swiss Association for Solar Energy, Swissolar .

    As Swissolar writes in a summary of this guide, solar energy can make a decisive contribution to replacing non-renewable energies in public transport. The electricity consumption of all transport companies is currently around 2.7 terawatt hours. In addition, there are 120 million liters of diesel. If all public transport is to be operated in a CO2-neutral manner in the future, it will need around 3.5 terawatt hours of electricity. Of this, 2 terawatt hours, or 60 percent, would already be produced by the hydropower plants of the SBB .

    The production of the remaining 1.5 terawatt hours with solar energy would require around 1 square meter of photovoltaic module area per inhabitant in Switzerland. The same area per inhabitant provides the energy required to transport a person 2,500 kilometers by train in one year. As the Federal Office of Energy states in its energeia plus magazine, the potential for solar power in the Swiss transport company's building stock is 67 terawatt hours per year. That exceeds the total current Swiss electricity consumption by 10 percent.

    The guide advises small and large transport companies on investment opportunities and approval procedures for real estate, rail technology and infrastructure. He also goes into funding opportunities and personal consumption. It also provides specific official recommendations that support public transport in becoming climate-neutral.