Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Energy deemed most serious problem facing economy

Candle
The problem of electricity in winter remains unsolved, warns Christoph Mäder, president of economiesuisse Keystone / Urs Flueeler

Energy supply is the most pressing problem for the Swiss economy, according to Christoph Mäder, president of economiesuisse, the Swiss Business Federation.

The fact that Switzerland could be confronted with a power shortage as early as this winter is an “enormously threatening prospect for businesses”, he says.

“Many industrial processes depend on a full power supply. If it is reduced, nothing runs anymore,” Mäder, head of the largest umbrella organisation for the economy, said in an interviewExternal link with Finanz und Wirtschaft on Saturday.

He said companies would take precautions and implement more and more substitute measures – diesel generators, for example, were being installed “over a large area”. However, this would cause additional costs and pollute the environment. Gas could be partially replaced, but only 30% of industrial production could be converted from gas to oil, he added.

Winter problem

In Mäder’s opinion, Switzerland will not be able to “get out of this threatening situation in time”. Relying solely on hydropower and photovoltaics was insufficient, he said.

More

In the case of photovoltaics, the increase in capacity to date does not give grounds for optimism that the necessary magnitude will be reached within a reasonable timeframe, he said. “In addition, the problem of winter electricity remains unsolved. Every measure should aim to contribute to reducing the winter electricity deficit.”

In March several business associations presented possible measures against an electricity crisis. Among other things, they called for a higher threshold value for electricity imports in winter, in addition to reconsidering the operating time of nuclear power plants and opening the electricity market completely.

More

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Switzerland gets a new tectonic map

More

Switzerland gets a new tectonic map

This content was published on Switzerland has a new tectonic map at a scale of 1:500,000, containing updates to geometry, distribution and nomenclature of the tectonic units.

Read more: Switzerland gets a new tectonic map

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR