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A dam, two thousand five hundred meters above the sea floor, equipped with thousands of solar modules.
At the Muttsee in the canton of Glarus, a Swiss energy company is building the largest alpine solar system in the country.
5000 panels are expected to produce around 3.3 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year.
This is the average annual consumption of around 740 four-person households in Switzerland.
The assembly of the solar collectors at this height is complex.
Why not push ahead with the expansion in the lowlands first?
Christian Heierli, Axpo Project Manager:
“In Swiss cities we have high yields, especially in summer, but not so much in winter. But we need exactly the opposite. The demand for electricity is greater in winter than in summer and it will continue to grow in the future. That is why we are looking for a high-alpine system for a constant yield, not only in summer, but also in winter. "
The background: Switzerland has an energy problem.
The small country, characterized by high mountains, is dependent on electricity imports from neighboring countries because it does not produce enough energy itself.
The problem becomes even more acute in winter.
Then the 650 or so hydropower plants, which in total supply more than half of the domestic electricity, generate much less electricity due to the low water levels in rivers and lakes.
The alpine solar systems, on the other hand, not only catch direct sunlight in winter, but also those that the snow reflects.
And: anywhere else than in the mountains, the small country hardly has any space for large solar parks.
Christian Heierli, Axpo Project Manager:
“The idea is to install the systems in other places as well, like here on a dam, a hydropower plant. But also on other already existing infrastructures. "
The share of renewable energies in total consumption in Switzerland was 24.1 percent in 2019.
For comparison: in Germany it was 42 percent.
The Swiss government is therefore planning to massively expand renewable energies as part of an energy strategy.
Alpine solar power plants could become an important building block for this.