Renewable power growth must accelerate, warns Swiss energy office

Swiss federal energy strategy: targets for 2035 are a long way off. Keystone-SDA

The transformation of the Swiss energy system is progressing too slowly. Switzerland needs to double its current use of renewable energies - not including hydropower - to meet the national target set for 2035.

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This warning came on Monday from the seventh monitoring report published by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE).

In 2024, electricity production from renewable energies (excluding hydroelectric power) amounted to 8,301 gigawatt hours (GWh), or 10.9% of total net production.

A target of 35,000 GWh by 2035 is enshrined in the Federal Law on Electricity Supply from Renewable Energies. The report explains that achieving this target will require an average increase of around 2,400 GWh.

In terms of hydroelectric production, the FOEN expects an average increase of 91 GWh per year to reach the target of 37,900 GWh. Per capita consumption, meanwhile, will have to fall by 2.2% a year to meet the target. By way of comparison: over the last ten years, the average decline has been around 1.9% per year.

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The federal law on a secure electricity supply based on renewable energies, which came into force on January 1, 2025, sets stricter targets for domestic production and consumption. Priority is given to energy production in winter, in order to guarantee a year-round supply of electricity.

Adapted from French by AI/sb

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