Switzerland is at the bottom of the league for wind energy. Weak!

39 comments
  1. Meh. It’s not really the best source for us. It’s very noisy and doesn’t produce much. Best to build one or two more AKWs, pave the roofs with solar and we’ll be fine.

  2. Does it really make sense to compare countries like this? It must be much better that each country build the green energy sources that makes the most sense, regarding local conditions and topography. Switzerland is good on hydro power, which Denmark obviously has none off.

  3. Well, especially with the renewables they need to be tuned to wherever you are. I’m not saying we couldn’t do better, but I think compared with denmark Switzerland is rather suboptimal for wind energy. However the reverse is true when talking about hydroelectric power generation.

  4. If we didn’t reject literally every single plan for wind energy because of noise, landscape image, animals w/e we’d be further up. Apparently trying to save the planet and renewable energy is only important to a point

  5. Yeah but look at how much hydro the country has, something like 60% of electricity comes from hydro.

  6. Wind is just outright ugly! Source: Drive from Vienna to Györ and tell me otherwise.

    All fields are dotted with windmills. It looks dystopian. At daylight because of the moving arms and at night because of the blinking lights.

    I believe wind is best to harvest out in the ocean where wind is strong and we don’t see it at all. People make a too big fuzz about “transportation loss”. If the “fuel” for your electricity production is free, you don’t need to care about that.

  7. Is this from a swiss newspaper? It looks like typical Switzerland bashing you’d expect from the EU-philes tbh

    Switzerland produces the vast majority (like 95% or something?) Of that electricity from clean sources, hydro and nuclear. Meanwhile both Denmark and Germany are burning coal.

  8. I see your sarcastic comments, but there’s still potential for more wind energy, just ask any person working for power producers. It’s just extremely difficult to obtain necessary autorisations from local authorities, even if the project meets all the formal/legal requirements. Sometimes it takes more than ten years to build one wind turbine. But I think things are changing right now on the political level.

  9. 60% Hydro is not to bad as a renewable and 30% nuclear is not bad to be fair. Ireland also really needs to take advantage of the power of the Atlantic.

  10. The wind only blows in daytime. Never after 10 in the evening because of noise regulations.

    If you want it changed, please file a referendum.

    (Edit: no seriously, why don’t we put offshore windmills in the Leman? Not enough wind?)

  11. And Denmark has 0% hydropower.

    # Schlusslicht!!!

    Seriously, these polemic statistics are annoying. Local geography makes a huge difference in what sources and means of storage of energy are efficient.

    With little free space remaining and very limited wind in continental climate, wind is just not a great option Switzerland.

  12. Just wait to see how dismal are our numbers for capturing energy of the volcanoes and ocean tides. Apart from specific corridors that already have windmills in place there is little capacity in strong, reliable, constant wind in Switzerland.

  13. Switzerland imports 80% if it’s electricity. Hydroelectric capacity is pretty much maxed, there is indeed a lot of opportunity for wind turbines but the cost is high given the complex geography.
    – Source : a friend at the Federal assembly

  14. Very happy to read this: wind energy is one of the less efficient and the most bulky energy resource we came up with. No need to disrupt our landscape for an epsilon of additional energy.

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