At the moment there is no increased risk. Nevertheless, problems could arise if there is a prolonged period of cold weather in Central Europe. Swissgrid is prepared for such an eventuality, however, and has agreed emergency measures with neighbouring transmission system owners, such as large-scale production shifts between the countries concerned.

The colder it gets, the greater the demand for heating. In countries such as France, Italy, Spain and the Scandinavian countries, electric heaters are widely used – in contrast to Switzerland. As a consequence, these countries consume much more electricity when the weather is cold. This in turn increases the load on electricity grids across Europe. And because Switzerland is an electricity hub in the heart of Europe it is also affected.

Over the coming years the Swiss transmission system needs to be expanded and modernised to ensure the long-term security of supply. The grids are becoming more and more congested. This is mainly due to rising electricity consumption, an increase in international market flows and growth in electricity generation from volatile, only partly predictable energy sources such as wind and solar. Implementation of the new Swiss energy strategy also calls for the rapid expansion of the grid.

At the end of 2012, Swissgrid will take over the grid from the current owners (energy supply companies). This will also make Swissgrid responsible for grid renewal and grid expansion.

Approval procedures for the construction of power lines take on average 9-12 years. Such projects often fail because of opposition from the parties directly involved. Another reason for the procedures taking so long is that objections can be raised at any time during the various stages of a renovation or construction project. This is why the transmission system has hardly been expanded for the last 20 years. Electricity consumption, on the other hand, has increased by more than 25 percent.

Swissgrid estimates that over the next 20 years between 4 to 6 billion Swiss francs will have to be invested in renovating and expanding the transmission system throughout Switzerland. These investments will ensure that the Swiss transmission system is able to meet requirements well into the future.

Ultimately, electricity consumers will have to pay. For private consumers, however, the cost of the grid expansion will only amount to a few francs a year.

Switzerland's energy strategy has a direct impact on the transmission system. The type and location of energy generation and the level of energy consumption are some of the things that need to be taken into consideration when designing the grid. To enable electricity from renewable energies to be stored in the pumped storage power plants in the Alps, for example, these plants need to be connected to the transmission system.

At the moment the procedures involved in a power line construction project usually drag on for more than 10 years. This causes delays in urgent network expansion. Over the coming years more than 50 expansion projects will need to be implemented. In other words, 1000 km of existing lines will have to be renovated and 300 km built from scratch. This is the only way to ensure long-term security of supply, which is why the approval procedure must be speeded up.

There are several ways in which the procedure can be speeded up:

• Elimination of an appeal authority: it should no longer be possible to challenge the planning approval decision before the Federal Administrative Court. Such actions will be brought immediately before the Federal Supreme Court.
• Adherence to deadlines: maximum periods for the Sectoral Planning process and the planning approval process will be introduced. These will not exceed 1 and 2 years respectively.
• Introduction of public agency preclusion: an addition will be made to the public agency deadlines to the effect that if comments are not received within a set deadline a certain legal effect will come into force.
• Improvement of the legal effects of decisions: administrative offices will be bound by department decisions. A number of additional measures will be implemented within the revision of the spatial planning law.

Various organisational measures can also be implemented to speed up the procedure. These include: more staff for handling the procedures, a clearly defined, standardised procedure and the optimisation of cooperation between the parties involved.

Security of supply is achieved when the demand for electricity is able to be met at all times. This implies that electricity generation and consumption are always equally matched. Swissgrid is responsible for this continuous balancing, making it the backbone of the Swiss electricity supply.

The TSC is a cooperation initiative between a dozen European transmission system operators. Swissgrid is actively involved in working with its partners to ensure energy provision to 170 million Europeans and to further enhance the security of the high-voltage grids in Central Europe.

The initiative includes a standing security committee and uses a real-time information system and a joint IT platform, which provides all participants with equal access to data and security calculations.

TSC enables network operators to coordinate their work better, which is particularly useful for integrating renewable energies and coordinating enhanced cross-border electricity trading and transport.

Swissgrid has analysed the situation following the shutdown of the eight German nuclear power plants. Problems could arise if there is an extended period of cold weather in Central Europe during the winter months. Swissgrid is prepared for such an eventuality and has agreed emergency measures with neighbouring TSOs, such as large-scale production shifts between the countries concerned.