A quarter need immediate measures: the state of the electricity grid is worse than previously assumed

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Plan approval procedures should also be initiated in parallel with immediate measures. It is therefore expected that the number of projects will increase.

In addition to maintenance, the transmission network also urgently needs to be expanded, the BFE said. To ensure the safe, strong and efficient operation of the Swiss electricity system, existing and future bottlenecks should be eliminated. Finally, there is the gradual change from centralized to decentralized production capacities as a result of the 2050 Energy Strategy.

With the Federal Act on the Conversion and Expansion of Electricity Networks, new conditions have come into force since 2019 for the faster expansion of electricity networks. The approval process could not be accelerated ‘significantly’, as the statement goes on to say. Many line projects in Swissgrid’s transmission network would currently take around 15 years to complete.

Check acceleration measures

During its meeting, the Federal Council therefore instructed the Ministry of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (Uvek) to further examine the measures to accelerate the approval process and by the end to submit a proposal with the necessary adjustments to the law . from March 2024 and into law by the end of November 2024. Regulation level must be presented.

According to the BFE, these include, for example, the optimization of the federal government’s internal procedures and clean-up processes for projects in the transmission line sector plan, legal requirements for the choice of technology between overhead lines or cables, the exemption from a sectoral planning process for the replacement or renovation of existing lines on existing routes or waiving planning approval for low-voltage distribution networks in construction zones. (SDA)

Source:Blick