Energy transition in Switzerland: The Alps have been conquered

Romed Aschwanden is a historian and managing director of WWF Zug.

Once again, Swiss politicians believed that the solution to the country’s energy problem lay in the Alps. In autumn 2022, parliament decided on the so-called solar express. A law that makes it easier to build large-scale photovoltaic systems in the mountains. Without lengthy planning procedures, two terawatt hours of solar power should be added quickly and with as little bureaucracy as possible and the looming winter power gap should be bridged. On top of that, there were plenty of subsidies and a gold rush atmosphere was spreading among the electricity companies.

But the solar express is stalling. In one mountain community after another, most recently in Surses in the canton of Graubünden, voters have rejected numerous solar power projects in recent weeks and months. How come?

A common thesis is: The mountain areas are defending themselves against the “neo-colonial” large-scale projects of the energy giants from the lowlands, against BKW, EWZ, Axpo and Co. That sounds convincing, as local companies such as Graubünden Repower are succeeding in advance in Laax or Energia Alpina in Tujetsch to get their projects through the community meetings without resistance.

However, the Unter-versus-Oberland narrative omits some important aspects. To understand why the construction of large photovoltaic systems is hardly accepted by the locals, you have to go back to the 1970s. After the “golden age of dam building,” as the Geneva historian François Walter once called it, came to an end, almost all suitable Alpine valleys were flooded with a reservoir. At the same time, the landscape value of the remaining, hardly used and undeveloped Alpine valleys was given much greater weight.

Back in 1970, Erich Schwabe, an editor at the Swiss Heritage Department, raved about how the artificial water surfaces of a reservoir would perfect a mountain landscape. Now it was important to preserve these imperfect landscapes. A broad alliance prevented numerous planned hydroelectric power plants, for example on the Greina plateau in Graubünden.

Since then, no major energy projects have been built in the Swiss Alps. However, no nature conservation projects either. The voters of Zernez prevented the expansion of the Swiss National Park in 2000. A similar fate happened to Parc Adula, which was intended to create a second national park. In 2016, the project was rejected by numerous local communities.

The reason for the mountain people’s negative attitude towards big ideas is the widely shared insight: the Alps have been conquered. Where a panoramic hotel could stand, there is now a panoramic hotel; Where there is space for a protected area, it is eliminated; Where a valley is suitable for hydropower, there is now a dam.