On an area the size of 14 football fields: Adelboden BE gives the green light for an alpine solar system

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The decision was clear with 339 yes votes and 111 no votes, the municipality announced on Saturday. The building application must be submitted by the end of the year; Ideally, work on the Schwandfäl will start next summer. The system is expected to supply approximately 40 percent of the community’s winter electricity from 2028.

The system was planned by Licht- und Wasserwerk Adelboden AG (LWA) together with Tschentenbahnen AG and the Bernese energy company BKW. The municipality of Adelboden is not involved, but had to give permission due to federal regulations.

LWA director Pascal von Allmen was happy with the clear yes, he said in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency on Saturday. “Most people saw the benefits for the community and for climate protection, even if they couldn’t stay on the project for long.”

Ultimately, everyone can benefit from the positive effects. The local electricity supplier LWA will become more independent of the electricity market and be able to offer more stable prices to its customers for basic services. The project also promotes local value creation.

The facility should be barely visible from most of the residential area. At the end of its service life it must be completely dismantled. The investment costs amount to approximately 35 million francs, of which the federal government will finance up to 60 percent as a one-off payment.

Projects for solar energy systems are also underway elsewhere in the Bernese Alps. The Basel energy supplier IWB wants to build a photovoltaic installation in Meiringen-Hasliberg on an area of ​​up to 17 hectares.

The federal government supports the projects with its solar offensive for a safe power supply in the winter. The urgent changes to the Energy Law, which will apply until 2025, will simplify the approval of large-scale photovoltaic systems. (SDA)

Source:Blick