Wind power could supply 6% of Swiss needs by 2035

Wind power could supply 6% of Swiss consumption by 2035 Keystone-SDA

Wind power could supply up to four billion kilowatt-hours, or 6% of Switzerland's electricity consumption by 2035, according to Lionel Perret, director of the wind power industry Suisse Eole.

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“Such a performance is conceivable with around 450 wind turbines,” Perret told the 180 people gathered at Bern’s City Hall for the National Wind Energy Congress.

“Given that two-thirds of wind turbine output is generated in winter, every kilowatt-hour of wind power reduces the need for storage and imports, as proven by a study conducted by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich,” stated Suisse Eole in a press release.

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According to Saskia Bourgeois of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, “thanks to the evolution of technology, Switzerland could produce 8.9 TWh of wind-generated electricity per year, including 5.7 TWh in winter, by exploiting 30% of the 29.5 terawatt-hour potential sustainably available. This represents almost 9,000 wind power plants”.

The Montagne de Buttes, Mollendruz, Grenchenberg, EolJorat Sud, Sur Grati and Charrat wind farms were each represented in Bern by a project manager. All came to present the progress of their work, the first having obtained the green light for its master plan in 2021.

“Each of these projects is proof that the industry needs to speed up the procedures under discussion in the Federal Parliament,” insists Perret.

New generation of wind turbines

Stefan Schindler, project manager at Windenergie Schweiz, explained that Europe is already building the new generation of wind turbines: “Wind turbines with an output of 5.5 to 7.2 MW are the European standard. Wind turbines with an output of 8 to 13 million kilowatt-hours are realistic.”

In his opinion, a newly-built wind turbine is on average 20 times more productive than it was 30 years ago: “In operation, a wind turbine occupies an average of just 0.35 hectares of land – much less than half a soccer pitch. And the surrounding land can continue to be used for agriculture and forestry”, assures Stefan Schindler.

The national conference was also attended by wind power supporters from 11 cantonal Pro Eole associations. According to them, new associations will soon be formed in six other cantons.

Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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