Electricity is always flowing and the energy sector is always active – 24/7, 365 days a year. New grid projects, exciting facts about electricity, digitalisation, innovations, the environment – we regularly publish informative articles on a wide range of topics. Always up-to-date, always with our finger on the pulse. Welcome to our blog!
For safety reasons, only low-growing flora is found on routes for overhead lines and in substations. This environment offers the ideal living conditions for endangered animal and plant species.
At the end of March 2023, Swissgrid and the Swiss railway operator SBB submitted a planning application for the replacement of the submarine cables between Brusino and Morcote. The cable route is 2.8 km long and the total investment amounts to around CHF 8.7 million.
The Swissgrid substation at Fionnay GD in the Valais, which is located in a mountain cave, has been renovated. This is where the energy generated by the Fionnay / Grande Dixence power plant is fed into the electricity transmission system.
In the first post in the blog series, we looked at the home of the future and saw an energy-optimised, networked work of art. For this vision to become reality, the infrastructure – i.e. the grid – must keep pace with digitalisation and the transformation of the energy system.
The expansion of domestic production capacity is essential in order to ensure a successful energy transition in Switzerland and to strengthen security of supply in the long term. This became even clearer in the light of the supply situation in the winter of 2022/2023.
In an interview, Claus Reifferscheidt, Tariff Management Specialist at ewz, explains how Swissgrid tariffs are passed on to the lower grid levels. Among other things, we find out why high- or medium-voltage customers pay more than low-voltage and domestic customers.
Since its foundation in 2009, Swissgrid has been publishing its tariffs for the coming year in March of each year. Sometimes they were lower than in the previous year, and sometimes they increased from one year to the next. Andreas Schreiber, Head of Economics & Contracts at Swissgrid, explains in an interview which tariffs fluctuated particularly strongly, which remained fairly constant, and how to explain these developments.
During the first quarter, the final electricity bill for the past year drops through letterboxes across Switzerland. It then becomes clear how much electricity was actually consumed and what costs are incurred as a result.
As the owner and operator of the Swiss extra-high-voltage grid, Swissgrid has a unique business model. As this is a critical infrastructure, the legislator has defined a clear legal mandate and designed a legal monopoly. This is the best way for Swissgrid to fulfil its main task: maintaining Switzerland’s grid-related security of supply.
Greater security of supply at the expense of the environment?
Swissgrid commissioned the new 380-kilovolt line from Pradella to La Punt on 11 November 2022. This line is essential for the transfer of electricity and for security of supply in the Engadin and the canton of Graubünden as a whole. However, interference in nature was necessary for the construction of the line. Swissgrid sees protecting the environment as part of its mandate. Read the article to find out how we assumed our responsibility in this project.
