Switzerland needs an EU electricity agreement, says Swissgrid director
Contradicting Swiss Energy Minister Albert Rösti, the director of the Swiss electricity management group (Swissgrid) has reaffirmed the absolute necessity of an electricity agreement with the European Union (EU).
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
“There is currently a decoupling of Switzerland from the European electricity market,” Swissgrid director, Yves Zumwald, said in an interview published on Friday by the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ).
“This not only jeopardises the stability of the grid but also makes it difficult to integrate Swiss power stations into Europe,” he added. “Without participation in the European electricity grid, stress on the grid will increase, making it more difficult to operate safely.”
“This does not change our firm belief that electricity relations between Switzerland and the EU must be normalised,” adds Zumwald. “We are linked to Europe by 41 cross-border lines, and we operate the grid with our European partners. It is therefore a very bad idea to exclude Swissgrid from the platforms and bodies that help maintain the stability of the electricity grid”.
More
More
Explainer: how the Swiss electricity market works
This content was published on
Switzerland is also suffering from the energy crisis, but a distinctive characteristic of its market is that it is only partially liberalised.
According to Swissgrid, it is possible to conclude contracts with some foreign grid operators, for example with Italy, “but in the north, with France, Germany and other EU countries, we have been negotiating for three years with no solution in sight”.
What’s more, he continues, “such technical contracts only guarantee that we can work with the grid operators in these countries […] This is an absolutely minimal solution”.
Zumwald says that it is an illusion to expect Switzerland to be self-sufficient in electricity production. “The more independent we are from the EU, the more expensive it gets”.
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 it 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.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Foreign affairs
European nations snub Swiss-made weapons over Ukraine restrictions
Switzerland will deliver rubble removal equipment to Ukraine
This content was published on
Thirty rubble removal machines and thirty fire-fighting pumps: this is the equipment that Switzerland will be delivering to the Ukraine in the next few days. The total value of these goods is 5.6 million Swiss francs.
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.
Read more
More
Nuclear yes or nuclear no: where does Switzerland’s energy strategy go?
This content was published on
Five years after the decision to decommission nuclear power plants, Switzerland is still behind the goals set for its transition to renewables.
Will Switzerland sort out its differences with the EU in 2023?
This content was published on
The EU wants to govern relations with Switzerland with a packet of sectoral accords, but Switzerland is dragging its feet.
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.