Last week, Prof. Gabriela Hug presented the new scenarios that we developed using the Nexus-e platform at the Energy Week 2021. On the topic “Climate Neutral Switzerland 2050: What Energy System Do We Need?” Gaby – project lead of Nexus-e – highlighted three key learnings:
Solar power is responsible for by far the largest addition to electricity generation capacity in Switzerland. Precisely because we see such a high level of PV growth in all scenarios, we often forget how far we are still from it. We have to focus on speeding up the construction process.
Electricity trade with neighbouring countries is important today and will remain important in the future. Over the past 10 years, Switzerland has earned CHF 3.5 billion through electricity trading. Of course, the framework conditions are changing – such as the net-zero targets of neighbouring countries or possible trade restrictions – and this must also be taken into account in the scenarios.
We need flexible power generation in winter in the long term. Whether this flexible power generation comes from gas-fired power plants with CCS, seasonal storage, or more PV systems designed for winter electricity production is still open. The cost development of CCS as well as domestic hydrogen production, storage, and transport is burdened with high uncertainties.
Please also see the following:
- Recording and slides of Gaby’s presentation
- ETH news article about the Energy Week and Gaby’s presentation
- Interview with Gaby in Swiss news “Tagesanzeiger”
