Swiss power utility companies partner with Energiequelle GmbH

Bremen, Kallinchen, 28.02.2014 - The Swiss utility companies EBM (Basle) and ewb (Berne) are increasing the percentage of renewable energies in their mix. They meanwhile have an installed capacity of 88 MW through their joint venture, Leading Swiss Renewables (LSR). Of that total, 36 MW were planned and installed within the last 12 months by Energiequelle GmbH. A total of 13 wind turbines are involved: four Enercon E 101 wind turbines generating 12 MW in Eimsheim (Rhineland-Palatinate), two E 101s (6 MW) in Hellberge (Brandenburg) and four E 82s (9 MW) in St. Gildas (Brittany). Another three E 101s already installed in the west of France, generating a further 9 MW, are about to go online. The total annual average energy output of 90 million kilowatt hours is enough to supply around 24,000 Swiss households with green power. Energiequelle GmbH has also been commissioned to handle the operational management of the turbines, so the company now manages around 110 MW abroad.

As Gregor Weber, head of foreign operations at Energiequelle GmbH, puts it, “Our international activities gone into a higher gear in the last two years, especially in France and Switzerland.”

After the nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2011, Switzerland pulled the ripcord and resolved to phase out nuclear energy by the year 2034. At present, around 40% of total Swiss power generation is from nuclear energy. The country currently operates five reactors with a total capacity of about 3.3 GW. One experimental reactor built in the 1960s was removed from the grid shortly after it came online, due to a partial core meltdown. In 2022, three of the five reactors now in operation will be decommissioned after 50 years in service. No new reactors are being built; the loss of 5.5 terawatt hours (TWh) is to be offset with renewable energies. An additional three TWh in additional power demand will ensue from the planned changeover from fossil-fuel heating systems to heat pumps and from further expansion of electromobility. Swiss power utility companies are increasingly investing in wind power projects in other countries, in addition to greater use of renewables in their own country. Thanks to its favourable geographical position, Switzerland has enormous pump storage capacities that are currently being increased at a formidable pace. These efforts will safeguard power supplies even when winds drop or when demand peaks.