Foreign

ALTHOUGH the current warmer weather makes it tough for skiers, Switzerland no longer faces a power shortage this winter because of current mild temperatures and lot’s of rain.

Swiss hydroelectric power plant reservoirs are fuller than average, while European gas storage facilities are fuller than feared and nuclear power production in France is picking up, a Swiss regulator said on Thursday.

“There is a very high probability of getting through this winter without a shortage,” Urs Meister, managing director of the Federal Electricity Commission (ElCom) said.

Reservoirs are 75 per cent full due to above-average rainfall, he said.

On average, they are only 55 per cent to 60 per cent at this time of year, he added.

Switzerland generates just over 60 per cent of its electricity from hydropower, nearly 30 per cent from nuclear power, about two per cent from fossil fuels and nearly eight per cent from renewables.

In summer, domestic generation is sufficient.

But in winter, it has to buy in from neighbouring countries.

That’s why French nuclear power plants and European gas storage facilities are important.

To encourage the production of renewable energy, Switzerland has adopted extensive subsidies for solar plants in high alpine locations.

Numerous projects are in the works.(dpa/NAN)

KN

Tags: Swiss hydroelectric power Urs Meister