Another Swiss solar project forced to trim ambitions

Meeting clean energy targets is proving a challenge in Switzerland. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

A major proposed solar project in western Switzerland has scaled back its plans to produce clean energy due to avalanche risks and lack of grid connections.

The energy company EnAlpin on Monday confirmed to the Keystone-SDA news agency earlier media reports that the canton Valais project has run into problems.

+ Read how tensions surround mountaintop solar farms

The project envisaged three solar parks in the areas of Mattmark, Mäsweide-Rieberg and Mattwald. Some 800,000 solar modules were originally slated to supply 1.44 terawatt hours of electricity on six different sites in these areas.

But surveys have pointed out risks to such an ambitious scale. The company refused to comment on a report in the SonntagsZeitung newspaper on Sunday that the project would be scaled back by half.

Another issue is that the electricity grid in Valais is already experiencing bottlenecks and that would need to be overcome before further power plants are added.

The strengthening of grid lines could take six years while planning permission for new power plants could last more than double this period, Keystone-SDA reports.

More information on the scale and timing of the proposed EnAlpin plants will not be available until after August when Swissgrid is due to give feedback.

+ Read about resistance to Swiss alternative energy projects

In May, it was revealed that environmentalists had severely clipped the wings of another ambitious Valais solar project, in the alpine site of Grengiols.

The original plan to produce at least 600 gigawatts of electricity a year was scaled back to a more modest 160,000 solar modules on a square kilometre of land, providing around 110 gigawatts of electricity.

Last week, a plan to carpet railway tracks with solar panels in western Switzerland was scrapped after the transport ministry raised concerns.

Switzerland has set an ambitious target of zero net emissions by 2050, a plan that was endorsed by voters last month.

But achieving alternative energy projects is proving difficult. A recent media survey revealed little support for a range of other alternative energy proposals.