Water reserve should be mandatory

Swiss hydropower should also help prevent a power shortage in the coming winter. In concrete terms, the operators of storage plants will retain part of the water for emergencies, as was the case this year. Because one thing is clear: next winter the power shortage is likely to get worse. Especially since there is a lack of Russian gas that can be converted into electricity.

Unlike this year, however, the water reserve will not be purchased through an auction. At least that is what the Environment and Energy Committee (Urek) of the National Council wants. She has passed a motion by Bastien Girod, Zurich’s National Council, legally requiring operators of larger hydropower plants to reserve energy.

The auction fell short of expectations

“I am pleased that my application was accepted unanimously and also supported by the civil representatives and the Federal Council,” said Girod. “The debacle of the last tender showed that auctions just don’t work: we spent a lot of money and still didn’t get as much reserve as we wanted.”

In fact, the auction in October was unsatisfactory. Although the federal government was able to secure 400 gigawatt-hours of electricity, it cost nearly 300 million francs – even though the most expensive bids were not taken into account and the reserve was smaller.

Good news for consumers

It is also clear that the Commission wants the contribution to security of supply to be paid less generously. Girod also admits this: “Companies should be compensated appropriately, but moderately. Speculative market prices are certainly not included.”

This is good news for consumers, as the cost of keeping it in reserve is added to the price of electricity. Girod, however, tempers expectations: “We have not won yet – the energy companies have more influence in the Council of States.”

Source:Blick