(MENAFN- Swissinfo)
Switzerland needs to develop its electricity transmission and distribution network. This is what the new president of the Association of Swiss Electricity Companies, Martin Schwab, calls for in an interview with Swiss public radio SRF on Saturday.
This content was published on
June 29, 2024 - 15:00
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
The federal government plans to speed up the authorisation procedures for transforming and extending the electricity transmission network. But for Schwab, the plan does not go far enough. He is also calling for neighbourhood distribution networks to be built more quickly.
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For example, he would like more flexible requirements for transformer stations. Currently these can only be built in building zones. But in a neighbourhood of detached houses, it is sometimes difficult to find a site for this type of technical installation.
'Regrettable' objections
Voter approval of the Electricity Act was intended to facilitate the planning of 16 hydropower plants. The authorities and the associations had agreed on 15, but the Swiss parliament added a 16th. Some associations have since defected and intend to lodge an appeal, a“regrettable” situation, says Schwab.
+ Switzerland needs energy, but what kind?
“Each objection increases the likelihood that we will need gas-fired power stations to ensure supply,” he says.“The 16 projects are urgent, as is the development of wind and solar power in the Alps.”
He also fears that a“yes” vote on the biodiversity initiative, with its demands for landscape protection, could put the brakes on the development of wind power. The initiative committee does not accept that intervention should be possible even in nationally protected areas, if overriding interests of national importance are at stake.
Translated from German by DeepL/gw
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