The incoming president of the Swiss Water Management Association (SWMA) is in favour of full liberalisation of the Swiss electricity market. She also maintains that an electricity mix without nuclear power is no longer possible.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/ac
Español
es
La energía nuclear es necesaria, afirma el director de la Agencia Suiza del Agua
“My ideal would be a good electricity mix without nuclear power, but I don’t really believe in that any more,” said Susanne Vincenz-Stauffacher in an interview published on Sunday by the NZZ am Sonntag. The parliamentarian is therefore not closing the door on new nuclear power stations, but only wants “new generation” ones.
However, she continues to believe in the development of hydroelectric power. “The first step is to increase the height of existing dams. To do this, we need to reach an agreement with the environmental organisations so that we don’t hold each other back”.
More
More
How Switzerland is dismantling its first nuclear power station
This content was published on
Switzerland is set to switch off its first nuclear power station. But pressing the “off” button is just the start of an estimated 15-year process.
The parliamentarian, who has been proposed as president of the SWMA following Albert Rösti’s departure to the Federal Council, believes that small nature conservation associations should not have the same weight in appeals as organisations with broad support. Otherwise, a “mini-association” can “throw a spanner in the works”, whereas a solution has been found with the large associations.
Vincenz-Stauffacher also advocates not systematically protecting areas upstream of glaciers, where new hydraulic dams could be built. “Not all areas lend themselves to this in the same way, but there are several where new structures would make sense”.
She also recommends reducing the residual flows of rivers for a limited period of time, if this measure proves necessary for the security of Switzerland’s electricity supply.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Climate adaptation
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
Train vs plane: would you take a direct train between London and Geneva?
Eurostar is planning to run direct trains from Britain to Germany and Switzerland from the early 2030s. Would you favour the train over the plane? If not, why not?
Prevention and tech could help save billions on Swiss healthcare costs, says Deloitte
This content was published on
By focusing on prevention and technology, it would be possible to reduce Switzerland's healthcare bill by CHF30 billion a year by 2040, according to Deloitte Switzerland.
Environment director warns of increasing climate-related risks in Switzerland
This content was published on
The director of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) has warned of increasing climate-related risks in Switzerland in an interview with SonntagsBlick on Sunday.
Gotthard traffic queue hits 11km at start of holiday season
This content was published on
The start of the summer holidays saw a long traffic jam in front of the Gotthard tunnel on Saturday. Traffic jams between Erstfeld and Göschenen in canton Uri were up to 11 kilometres long early in the morning.
This content was published on
The water temperature of the Rhine River could rise by up to 4.2° degrees Celsius by the end of the century due to the warming planet, scientists warn.
This content was published on
The Federal Council wants to explore the possibilities of joining the European Union’s €800-billion rearmament programme without compromising Swiss neutrality.
Defence Minister Pfister stresses importance of Swiss mission in Balkans
This content was published on
During a visit to the Balkans region last week, Swiss Defence Minister Martin Pfister met Swisscoy peacekeeping troops in Kosovo.
Premiere for Swiss Air Force on French National Day
This content was published on
On July 14, the Swiss Air Force will take part in the traditional air parade in Paris to mark the French bank holidays with an F/A-18 fighter jet. This is a first for Switzerland.
Swiss launch competition for memorial to Nazi victims
This content was published on
The victims of Nazi Germany are to be commemorated on the Casinoterrasse in Bern. A competition will be held to determine what the site will look like.
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.