Swiss electricity getting greener

New renewable energy sources such as wind and solar make up a small but rising proportion of the total. Keystone

Switzerland’s energy consumption is getting greener, with 68% of it coming from renewable sources in 2017, compared with 62% the previous year. 

The share from nuclear sources fell from 16.9% to 15.1%, according to a Federal Office of Energy report released on FridayExternal link. 

Most energy came from large-scale hydroelectric power (60.5%). New renewable energy sources – solar, wind, small-scale hydroelectric power and biomass – accounted for 7.2%, up from 5.9% in 2016. Only small amounts of electricity came from rubbish and fossil fuels (each under 1%). 

“For 16% of the delivered energy, the origin and composition is not verifiable,” explained an energy office statement. This is because large energy intensive companies buy fossil fuel and nuclear electricity from the European market without buying the proofs of origin that go with it, the office added. 

This should change for the next set of energy statistics in 2020. Since this year it has been forbidden to declare electricity as “from non-verifiable energy sources”. 

International comparison 

Switzerland produces 55% of the renewable energy consumed in the country. 

Worldwide, solar, wind and hydroelectric power accounts for 25% of electricity consumption, according to Lucy Pao an energy expertExternal link from the United States, who was speaking at a sustainability conferenceExternal link in Vienna on Friday. 

In some countries with a lot of hydropower, like Austria, it’s a lot higher: 72%. In Norway, up to 95% comes from hydroelectric sources, she said.