SBB will have to buy electricity next winter. SBB boss Vincent Ducrot (60) says this in an interview with the State Economic Affairs Secretariat’s (Seco) “National Economy” news platform. SBB’s hydroelectric power plants would produce very little during the summer months due to drought.
And SBB would have to generate more electricity. But how? There are two options for photovoltaic systems: in buildings on the plains and in the mountains. “We can imagine installing solar panels in the mountains, for example on the dam walls of our hydroelectric power stations.”
Measures to combat energy shortage
In addition, SBB wants to make even better use of the braking energy from its trains and feed it back into the grid. To make a train stop less frequently, the rail company also relies on green waves. According to Ducrot, seven to eight percent of electricity can be saved each year. According to its CEO, SBB has saved about 25 percent of electricity since 2010 with projects it has already implemented.
Just last week, SBB announced additional measures to combat the impending lack of energy: it’s getting colder on the trains, it’s getting dark at the stations, and the speed in the Gotthard tunnel has been reduced.
According to Ducrot, SBB does not plan to switch to hydrogen drives like in Germany. With such drives, electricity is converted into hydrogen and can therefore be stored. Hydrogen propulsion could help drive trains away from fossil fuels. However, this problem does not arise in Switzerland, where 100 percent of the rail network is already electrified. (SDA/sfa)