News

Filter by categories:

Latest YouTube video on the "Renewable Energy Outlook for Switzerland"

Watch our latest YouTube video explaining in simple words the strategies of the "Renewable Energy Outlook", with a focus on the target of 35 TWh/year of new renewable technologies by 2035.

Results show that this target is technically feasible without domestic nuclear power or major fossil fuel plants in Switzerland. Please watch, share and let us know what you think in comments below the video!

Background:

- In September 2023, the Swiss parliament approved a new set of policy measures on renewable electricity, called the “Mantelerlass”. It sets a new target of 35 TWh/year of new renewable technologies by 2035. Therefore, the EDGE consortium has defined three strategies for attaining the new target at minimum cost.

- The three models show that the 35 TWh/year target is technically feasible without domestic nuclear power or major fossil fuel plants in Switzerland. Solar PV would remain the primary technology but would need to be complemented by other technologies: such as wind power, other types of photovoltaics such as open- field PV, biomass and waste, or a combination of these.

- This target of 35 TWh/year would also allow Switzerland to reach fully or nearly fully renewable electricity supply in 2035 on annual basis, and to minimize winter import dependency.

Link to video: https://youtu.be/IAi7KujbCPU

7th SWEET EDGE newsletter is out !

- First Renewable Energy Outlook for Switzerland (REO) is out!

- New study on the potential for agri-PV in Swiss agriculture,

- Second Energy Drinks events for the general public,

- Interview from our research partner Isabelle Stadelmann-Steffen following the referendum decision against the "Mantelerlass”,

- New YouTube video explaining in simple words the strategies of the "Renewable Energy Outlook"…

 

…events, publications…and more!

Newsletter in English

Newsletter in German

Newsletter in French

Previous newsletters accessible here

New study on the potential for agri-PV in Swiss agriculture

In this new study by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) of January 2024, a new theoretical total potential of 323 TWh/y for agri-PV in Switzerland was calculated, and the potential covers 56 % of the agricultural land available in Switzerland in 2022 (excluding grazing areas). These high numbers show that agri-PV systems could be used as supplements to PV systems on roof surfaces and other existing infrastructures.

The study is available in English and German. Doi:  https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-2649

Second Energy Drinks events for the general public

After the enthusiasm of the first series of the “Energy Drinks” events in August 2023 in Bern, which gathered around half of the audience coming outside of SWEET EDGE, we will reiterate the experience! These events aim at gathering the public around a drink while listening to several presentations per night on hot energy topics for Switzerland. To make it livelier, games with the public are organized after each presentation and prices are won. The Energy Drinks 2024 will be held in Zurich in Spring; keep an eye on this dedicated webpage where all information will be updated!

EDGE Biennial Conference was held on 22 August 2023 in Bern

EDGE organized its first Biennial Conference on 22 August 2023 in Bern, aiming at bridging academia, policy and industry to facilitate the development of networks outside academia and to enable EDGE findings to be communicated. A total of about 110 people attended and the room was full!

 

Third Evaluation Meeting

We are looking forward to welcoming members of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy and international experts for EDGE third evaluation meeting on 24 and 25 June 2024. We will present EDGE newest advancements and show progress made since the second evaluation meeting in June 2023, taking into account all comments and recommendations made. This will be a great opportunity to reflect on the first three years of the EDGE consortium.

 

Consortium Meetings in 2024

The EDGE consortium meets twice a year. Our next consortium meeting will be held online on 9 April 2024, and the next one will be held in-person in Lucerne on 22 and 23 August 2024. Consortium meetings are always very nice ways to exchange ideas and reflect on the progress made. Our last in-person consortium meeting was held a day after the biennial conference in Bern on 23 August 2023.

 "Zero intervention in the landscape and expansion of renewables. That doesn't work!"

Watch our research partner Isabelle Stadelmann-Steffen's interview following the referendum against the "Mantelerlass", which sets a new target of 35 TWh/year of new renewable electricity by 2035 in Switzerland.

Key takeaways:

- Around 60% of Switzerland's energy is already renewable and produced by hydropower.

- The yes to the "Energy Strategy 2050" in 2017 is a yes to generating the remaining 40% of energy production with "new" renewable energies, specifically solar, hydro and wind power.

- In general, almost all Swiss citizens are in favour of the energy transition, i.e. away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energies, but we face nature and landscape conservation issues for renewable energy projects.

- Our political system gives even very small groups great veto power. The referendum was brought about by a small group, although a large majority was in favour.

- According to various model calculations, it is possible to say "I want almost no wind" or "I want almost no alpine solar systems", but it is not possible to reject everything.

 

>> Interview << (https://www.plattformj.ch/artikel/216937/)

Three strategies to boost renewable electricity in Switzerland

 

Carbon neutrality and nuclear phase-out are two key objectives of Swiss energy policy. Achieving them requires a profound and rapid transformation of electricity supply. Supported by the Swiss government’s SWEET programme, the EDGE consortium brings together scientists from the universities of Geneva (UNIGE) and Bern (UNIBE), EPFL and ETH Zurich among other partners.

Using three different computer models, our scientists assessed the capacity to achieve four targets of national green electricity production by 2035. The results show that even the most ambitious targets are realistic. A report has been produced to provide guidance for political decision-makers.

-> Download the full Renewable Energy Outlook for Switzerland

-> Watch the video presenting the three strategies to reach the 35 TWh/year target

EDGE Biennial Conference will be held on 22 August 2023 in Bern

 

To reach its climate targets and secure its energy supply, Switzerland needs to speed up the deployment of renewable energy technologies. SWEET-EDGE’s objective is to integrate very high shares of decentralized renewable energy into the Swiss energy system. To that end, EDGE is organizing its first Biennial Conference in Bern: a public conference gathering different stakeholders from the industry, policy, associations and administrations.

 

***** REGISTRATIONS ARE OPEN *****

To participate in the event, please register (mandatory) via the following link:

>>   Registration link (mandatory - places are limited, first come first served) <<

 

Date: 22 August 2023

Time: 9h15 to 16h15 followed by a networking aperitif

Location: Welle 7, Schanzenstrasse 5, 3008 Bern

Energy drinks event in Bern!

EDGE will hold two outreach events in Bern on the evenings of both 21 and 23 August 2023. These events are called "Energy Drinks": you come and have a drink at the bar while listening to four presentations per night on hot energy topics in Switzerland, followed by games, quiz and prices to win!

There will be one topic per night, as follows:

21 August 2023: Does Switzerland really need alpine PV?

Moderator: Nik Zielonka, Universität Genf (UNIGE)

Prof. Michael Lehning, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Lausanne (EPFL/WSL)

Prof. Jürg Rohrer, Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften (ZHAW)

Prof. Isabelle Stadelmann, Universität Bern (UniBern)

Dr. Mak Dukan, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)

 

23 August 2023: Can Switzerland become fully renewable by 2050?

Moderator: Prof. Christof Bucher, Berner Fachhochschule (BFH)

Dr. Marius Schwarz, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH)

Prof. Christof Bucher, Berner Fachhochschule (BFH)

Dr. Gracia Brückmann, Universität Bern (UniBern)

Dr. Serge Biollaz, Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI)

 

The events will be held at ONO Das Kulturlokal in Bern from 7.00 PM to 9.30 PM. This is a free event and no registration is required but we advise you to come early to secure your spot (6.30 PM).

Language: German

 

Looking forward to seeing you there!

 

Fifth newsletter is out!

Our June newsletter is out! Biennial conference in Bern in August 2023, next consortium meeting, peer-reviewed publication, Youtube video on alpine photovoltaic... You will find many information there and our latest findings

Newsletter in English

Newsletter in German

Newsletter in French

 

New video on alpine photovoltaic

Several researchers present their latest work on Swiss alpine solar photovoltaic installations, also frequently called alpine PV.

In this video, we have interviewed our partners according to their area of expertise on alpine PV, as follows:

• Evelina Trutnevyte, Co-leader of the SWEET EDGE programme at the University of Geneva (UNIGE): Do we really need alpine PV in Switzerland?

• Michael Lehning, Co-leader of the SWEET EDGE programme at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL): What are the technical advantages of alpine PV? Is alpine PV really more efficient? What about the snow cover?

• Varun Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO at SUNWELL: What could an alpine PV project look like?

• Yael Frischholz, Doctoral Student in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL): How does Mutsee work? What research do you do?

• Isabelle Stadelmann-Steffen, Professor of Political Science at the University of Bern (UNIBE): What is the current policy state? Are alpine PV installations acceptable to the general public?

• Mak Dukan, Post-doctoral student in the Climate Finance & Policy (CFP) research group of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich): What about financing alpine PV?

Find out more about the current state of alpine PV in Switzerland and let us know what you think in comments below!

>>> Link to video <<<

Third in-person Consortium Meeting

Our third in-person EDGE Consortium Meeting will be held on 23 August 2023 at the University of Bern. This will be a great opportunity to exchange ideas and reflect on the past year as well as on discussions made during the first EDGE Biennial Conference of 22 August 2023. We all work together towards a fully renewable Switzerland!

Second Site Visit

EDGE will be very pleased to welcome SFOE members and international experts to Lausanne for its Second Evaluation Meeting on 16 June 2023. We are looking forward to present EDGE newest advancements and show progress made since the first Site Visit in August 2022, where very interesting points were raised and constructive feedback were taken into account. This will be a great opportunity to reflect on the past 2 years of the EDGE project!

EDGE's 4th Newsletter is out!

Find the full media coverage list of the EDGE Policy White Paper on rooftop photovoltaic, as well as peer-reviewed publications, many news and events to come.

Newsletter in English

Newsletter in German

Newsletter in French

 

EDGE White Paper shows extreme level of fragmentation of rooftop PV policy in Switzerland

This is the first EDGE White Paper on policy and market design for high shares of decentralized renewable energy, authored by Tobias Schmidt (ETH Zurich), Isabelle Stadelmann (University of Bern), and colleagues.

To reach its climate targets and secure its energy supply, Switzerland needs to multiply the annual deployment of renewable energy technologies, especially solar PV (as also shown in the SWEET EDGE inter-model comparison). The EDGE Policy White Paper quantifies the level of fragmentation of policy targeting PV on rooftops of households in Switzerland.

First, the White Paper analyzes the relevant policy designs on federal, cantonal and municipal levels, detecting a strong variety on both the cantonal and municipal level, as well as between distribution grid providers.

Second, it models the effect of this fragmentation on the profitability of PV installations on exemplary building types, finding extreme variance, even within cantons.

Finally, it proposes a strategy to reduce this policy fragmentation while increasing ambition in favor of a targeted harmonization of selected policy instruments to create stronger incentives for accelerated solar PV deployment and to reduce unnecessary barriers.

Access the full White Paper here

Access the Interview about the White Paper:

> In English here

> In German here

The EDGE national survey shows some first results

The national survey is closed. We thank all participants! We already have contacted the winners from the prize draw and wish them a good time with their prices!
 
Preliminary results are already available below.
Peer-reviewed results will be available as soon as they are published.
 
 

Our EDGE 1-year report has been published on Aramis

The EDGE consortium aims to become the point of reference in Switzerland for integrating very high shares of renewable generation, based on solid scientific work and science-practice collaboration taking the specific settings in cities, midlands and the Alps into consideration. The Aramis 1-year report highlights progress made. This report is available in 4 languages (English, German, French and Italian).

-> Read the full report

Watch our partner's illustrated video interview!

Discover the great work of Christof BUCHER, Professor of Photovoltaic Systems at the Photovoltaic Laboratory (PV Lab) of the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH). His work mainly focuses on testing PV systems that cannot be tested by the private industry. -> Watch the full video in English here

This video is also available in -> German here

SWEET EDGE Third Newsletter is out!

First EDGE Evaluation Meeting, second in-person Consortium Meeting, multiple interviews, two peer reviewed publications... Find out what EDGE members worked on for the past few months! -> Read the full Newsletter here.

EDGE First Site Visit was held

We are very pleased to have welcomed SFOE members and international experts to Geneva for EDGE Evaluation Meeting at the end of August 2022. Very interesting points were raised and constructive feedback will be taken into account. The next program evaluation meeting is scheduled for June 2023.

EDGE Second in-person Consortium Meeting

Our second EDGE in-person Consortium Meeting was held on 31 August and 1 September 2022 at the University of Geneva. A total of 36 members were present, including our Advisory Board member Carlos Pereira (Club of Rome) and our Implementation Partner Ingo Herbst (Siemens). The meeting took place in Geneva at Biotech Campus. All partners presented their work and steps forward, in the research fields as well as on the pilot and demonstration projects. What a nice and fruitful way to exchange ideas and work together towards a fully renewable Switzerland!

Good news for solar PV ­

There is great potential for photovoltaics along national roads. This should be opened up as soon as possible. The Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) makes available areas available free of charge and starts an application process.

FEDRO will start the application process on September 19, 2022. It lasts until February 24, 2023. The focus is on around 350 noise barriers and 100 rest areas. These objects were grouped into 15 lots. Interested parties have the opportunity to apply and, after a lot has been allocated, to plan and implement the photovoltaic system on the corresponding area within a specified time frame. A similar procedure was already carried out in 2018 when allocating locations for fast charging stations at rest areas.

The application documents and further information (incl. visualization tool) are available here: www.astra.admin.ch/photovoltaik

Copyrights: article from the Swiss Federal of Energy's website (https://www.uvek.admin.ch/uvek/de/home/uvek/medien/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-90400.html)

The SWEET EDGE survey has started!

The national survey on the future of energy supply in all regions of Switzerland has started. If you have been selected for this survey, we look forward to welcoming you at www.edge.ethz.ch, where you can participate with your personal access data. To make your vote count, we are looking forward to your participation!  We thank you for your participation!
 
To guarantee the quality of the survey based on a random selection of the Swiss resident population, participation is not possible if you have not received a personal letter via regular mail inviting you to the survey. Thanks for your understanding.

Updates on EDGE P&D project in Wittenbach (WP5)

Our Research Partner Prof. Jürg Rohrer from ZHAW is moving forward with EDGE P&D project in the Swiss midlands (WP 5).

Find the full article in the St. Galler Tagblatt -> full article here [in German]

And listen to the broadcast from radio SRF -> broadcast here [in German]

Our second Newsletter is out !

Welcome to our second SWEET-EDGE quarterly newsletter accessible here. It is a pleasure to keep you updated about our latest news, events, guests and to share articles and ideas with you. All newsletters are now available in three languages: English, German and French. Please choose your preferred language here.

-> Read the full Newsletter

 

Updates on communications

Stay in touch with EDGE on Social Media -> Twitter and Linkedin

Agro-PV system to grow lamb's lettuce

Our Research Partner Jürg Rohrer from ZHAW has initiated a project using agro-pv plants to grow a specific type of salad: lamb's lettuce.
 
Agro-photovoltaics, or Agri-PV, knows a recent but very dynamic development in Europe. It follows the idea that food and energy security should not be viewed as competing goals, but that solar development and agriculture should be integrated for mutual benefits.
 
The First Swiss Symposium on agro-photovoltaics will be held on July 14, 2022  in Wädenswil.
 
 

Welcome our new partners in economics

We are proud to announce the arrival of two new EDGE partners in economics.

Our first partner is Regina Betz, Head of Center for Energy and the Environment (CEE) @ZHAW, working in collaboration with Hannes Weigt from @UniBasel_en.

Our second new partner is Philippe Thalmann, Professor of Economics and Director of the laboratory for environmental and urban economics
 
Welcome all !

 

Our first Youtube Interview is out!

For this first interview video, we were delighted to welcome Annelen Kahl, Co-founder of SUNWELL. Her work focuses on PV production in snow-covered mountains. SUNWELL’s vision is to establish alpine solar energy as a prominent part of the renewable energy landscape. To realize SUNWELL's vision, the team is developing a comprehensive, robust and scalable software platform that combines all the design, planning and operation of alpine solar farms into one tool. SUNWELL's motto: "Best designs faster, and at the lowest cost". Learn more about Annelen Kahl and SUNWELL from our Youtube video.

Video Accessible Here

Our first Newsletter is out !

Welcome to our first SWEET-EDGE quarterly newsletter accessible here. It is a pleasure to keep you updated about our latest news, events, guests and to share articles and ideas with you. Please note that while this first newsletter is in English, the upcoming ones will be available in three languages: English, German and French. Please choose your preferred language here.

 

Meet our Advisory Board Members !

We are proud to introduce our Advisory Board Members. The Advisory Board will assist and facilitate the decisions made by the Consortium.

It is made of six experts in the field of climate change from various institutions:

Kornelis Blok, Marius Haibel, Julie Lundquist, Gianni Operto, Carlos Alvarez Pereira, Gabriele Spilker.

Find the full list of our partners in the Team section of our website.

Good news for the Swiss Alps

The International Mountain Conference of September 2022 IMC2022 aims at gaining insights into initiatives towards climate neutrality in mountains around the world, including in the swiss alps and addressing mountain-specific energy transitions.

"Climate change severely affects mountain regions. The need to develop territorial policies to mitigate climate change, including through energy transitions, is especially relevant given that climate governance is still state-centered and suffers from an “implementation deficit”. Since the inclusion of the Paris Agreement conditions in national political agendas, their implementation at the local level has encountered several obstacles. In mountain areas, bottom-up systematic transition processes that rest upon innovative participative and territorial models of governance can enable and enhance buy-in and cooperation. Mountain regions face a range of energy-pathway choices in the context of accelerated climate change, Nationally Determined Contributions for emissions, and mountain communities’ own development aspirations.  This session aims to gain insights into initiatives towards climate neutrality in various mountain regions around the world, discuss key challenges of policy implementation and address mountain-specific energy transitions (solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower, biomass, biochar and other forms of renewable carbon)"

Visit their website for more information.

We are online!

The new website for SWEET EDGE is now online, offering detailed information on the SWEET EDGE goals, the background and the 11 work packages. Also read about the unique concept of the three regions, a specific focus of the project. Research partners, cooperation partners, support partners and the advisory board are all listed.

The website was developed in cooperation with Palmiro Nigro from Digital Art Zurich. Contact us on sweet-edge@unige.ch if you have any questions.

kick-off meeting

On 26 October 2021 the consortium of Sweet Edge met for an in-person and online kick-off meeting at EPFL in Lausanne. More than 40 consortium members from research, industry and administration discused progres in the work packages and further collaboration among tasks.