“Even in the event of a power failure, you can’t arrange everything down to the last detail”

The Russian offensive war against Ukraine not only heralded a turning point in security policy. In view of the impending gas and electricity shortages, he has also changed energy policy. In the middle of the energy policy storm: the Wallis state councilor and top energy director Roberto Schmidt (60). As a member of the National Council, the chairman of the cantonal conference of energy directors once took the initiative to phase out nuclear energy. He does not deviate from that today either, as he makes clear in the Blick interview.

Blick: Mr. Schmidt, you are considered the “Father of the Nuclear Exit”. Do you now regret moving?
Robert Schmidt: no The current electricity shortage is not due to the phasing out of nuclear energy, but to our dependence on foreign fossil fuels.

Citizens are already considering subsidies for the four existing nuclear power plants to extend their lifespan.
The right way is to provide subsidies for a faster implementation of the energy transition. A sustainable energy supply without nuclear energy, as decided by the Swiss voters in 2017, makes sense and is possible in the long term. However, I personally have never been opposed to the nuclear power plants that are still in operation continuing to operate as long as they meet the legal safety requirements.

Are new nuclear power stations also an option?
No, because new nuclear power stations will not solve the problems of the energy crisis in the short term, nor are they a sensible option in the medium and long term. New nuclear power plants are not economically attractive and waste processing remains a problem and an economic risk. Even if one should not completely close one’s mind to new technologies in the field of nuclear energy, the whole discussion about new nuclear power plants is currently only a mock debate that ultimately yields nothing.

Now, with Albert Rösti, a proven proponent of nuclear energy is taking over the energy department. Will sparks fly between the Chief Energy Director and “Atom-Rösti” in the future?
not really! Albert Rösti and I have known each other for years and have always worked well together. I am convinced that he respects the democratic decision of the Swiss voters and could even accelerate the expansion of renewable energy supply because he has a clear opinion on balancing the interests of energy production and landscape protection.

The first thing to do is prevent a power shortage. In an emergency, the Bundesrat wants to prescribe down to the smallest detail when and how electricity must be saved. Do you like this babysitting state?
I call it micromanagement. Nobody likes it when the state meddles in private life. Even in the event of a power failure, you cannot arrange everything down to the last detail, let alone control it. In my view, it would be important to establish only a few clearly understandable rules with the greatest impact in an emergency. But it was still important for the Bundesrat to show how and where you can save electricity in case of a shortage. Each of us can contribute and even save on energy costs.

Then you look rather critically at the detailed regulations.
The first drafts of the regulations were hardly usable and would have caused great economic damage to individual sectors. We can live with the new control measures. I think it is good that specific measures are taken for each of the different escalation steps: cutbacks, bans, quotas, grid closures.

But?
However, it is still largely unclear on the basis of which criteria which measures are activated. In any case, the economy and the population need a certain amount of lead time to prepare for the next level of escalation.

What do you think is the most absurd requirement?
Monitoring compliance with regulations in the private sector by the cantons. This is not even possible due to human resources. There is also no point in trying to make non-compliance a criminal offence. This creates unnecessary work for the already overstretched law enforcement agencies. Should the Bundesrat insist on sanctions, it would have to limit itself to administrative fines.

The energy director conference judged certain measures to be incomprehensible. What specifically?
Certain measures seem to me disproportionate and difficult to communicate. For example, it is difficult to understand that wellness facilities and saunas can continue to be operated even in the last escalation step, while private individuals have to lower their room temperature to 18 degrees and large consumers have to set quotas for their consumption. In addition, the gas regulations prescribe a room temperature of 20 degrees. So those who heat with gas must be able to heat more than those who heat with a heat pump or with electricity. Nobody understands that.

The energy directors are also fighting against restrictions on electromobility. It makes sense if you leave the e-car for a while.
The number of electric vehicles is too small for this measure to have the desired effect. It certainly makes sense to voluntarily leave cars where possible. At the highest escalation level, the private use of cars could in principle also be restricted. But it cannot be the case that people are made aware of sustainable mobility, the purchase of electric cars and the construction of charging infrastructure are subsidized and then suddenly the use of electric cars is banned. That would not be a credible signal to the public.

100 km/h is also imminent on the Autobahn. What do you make of it?
As far as I know, neither the Conference of Energy Directors nor the cantons have spoken on this. Personally, I could certainly get used to a temporary speed limit in the event of a crisis. This would reduce fuel consumption, which would be a largely painless contribution of motorized transport. This keeps more fuel available for emergency generators and saves electricity at the filling stations.

The federal and cantonal energy saving campaign has been running since September. Have you sent fewer emails since then, as the Canton of Valais suggests?
Unfortunately not, but at least I turned off my computer more often in between.

Where did you personally start?
We have also lowered the room temperature in the house to 20 or even 18 degrees in certain rooms and switched off individual lamps completely. The stand-by mode has been switched off for electrical appliances and we also follow some simple and effective saving tips when cooking.

Where do you find it most difficult to save energy?
If I had to put up with no hot water in the shower. But hopefully it never comes to that.

You have ordered your officials to heat less and to climb more stairs. Do your employees have to freeze in the offices?
No one should freeze it, but putting on a sweater every now and then is definitely allowed. Lowering the room temperature in the offices to 20 degrees did not initially go very well in the Valais cantonal administration, because it was difficult to precisely set the temperature in the older buildings. It was suddenly too cold on some floors, which of course was not well received. However, the problems have now largely been resolved.

Do you expect even more far-reaching measures, such as working from home or merging offices?
I assume that no drastic measures will be necessary in the coming months. However, if the situation were to worsen, the home office could certainly be reordered to save energy, as we have done very successfully during the Covid pandemic.

Are you worried about the energy year 2023?
Thanks to the mild autumn, the well-stocked water and gas reservoirs and the savings efforts of the economy and the population, the situation has now been somewhat defused, so that the lights will hardly go out this winter. The winter of 2023/2024, on the other hand, worries me.

How?
This is partly because it will be more difficult for our European neighbors to refill their gas storage tanks next year. That is why we should certainly use the coming months to optimize the management concept. Unlike Covid-19, the energy crisis would be a predictable crisis!

What optimizations do you suggest?
For vulnerable people living in private households and dependent on the operation of life support devices, solutions need to be found at an early stage. Voluntary quotas, which are not planned today, would also be helpful. Particularly in the case of large industrial consumers, great potential can be exploited through the targeted and early planned switching on and off of consumers for a fee.

Finally: How do you celebrate New Year’s Eve in an energy-saving way?
I never wasted much energy on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Eve, because we usually stay at home and celebrate with family or friends. And lots of candlelight is more romantic anyway.