Electricity sector in Switzerland

The electricity sector in Switzerland relies mainly on hydroelectricity, since the Alps cover almost two-thirds of the country's land mass, providing many large mountain lakes and artificial reservoirs suited for hydro power.

Nuclear power accounted for 36.4% of the nation's gross electricity generation of 68.3 TWh[8] In addition, there are a number of research reactors in Switzerland, one of them at the EPFL.

In 2011, the federal authorities decided to gradually phase out nuclear power in Switzerland as a consequence of the Fukushima accident in Japan.

In late 2013 the operator BKW decided to cease all electrical generation in 2019 in the Mühleberg plant As of December 8, 2014, the National Council has voted to limit the operational life-time of the Beznau Nuclear Power Plant—which houses the oldest commercial reactor in the world—to 60 years, forcing decommissioning upon its two reactors by 2029 and 2031, respectively.

Additionally, Switzerland ranked eighth among International Energy Agency (IEA) countries in terms of the proportion of nuclear power in its electricity generation mix.

There are considerations regarding a gas turbine testing facility in Birr AG belonging to the Italian engineering firm Ansaldo Energia.

[6][7] The federal government adopted feed-in tariffs to offer a cost-based compensation to renewable energy producers.

The feed-in remuneration at cost (KEV, German: Kostendeckende Einspeisevergütung, French: Rétribution à prix coûtant du courant injecté, Italian: Rimunerazione a copertura dei costi per l'immissione in rete di energia elettrica) is the primary instrument for promoting the deployment of power systems using renewable energy sources.

As in other countries, industries with a large electricity consumption are exempt from the surcharge, which has gradually been increased and stands at 1.5 cents per kWh as of 2014.

As of the end of 2014, a growing waiting list for solar photovoltaic systems has accumulated as demand excess the capped capacities given by the currently available funds of the KEV remuneration.

For many years, Switzerland's pace of deploying solar PV had been lagging significantly behind its neighboring Germany and Italy.

[14] A study published in 2009 showed that the emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) due to the electricity consumed in Switzerland (total: 5.7 million tonnes) are seven times higher than the emissions of carbon dioxide due to the electricity produced in Switzerland (total: 0.8 million tonnes).