The electricity sector in Switzerland relies mainly on

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

, since the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

cover almost two-thirds of the country's land mass, providing many large mountain lakes and artificial reservoirs suited for hydro power. In addition, the water masses drained from the Swiss Alps are intensively used by

run-of-the-river hydroelectricity Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amou ...

(ROR). With 9,052 kWh per person in 2008, the country's electricity consumption is relatively high and was 22% above the European Union's average. In 2013, net generated electricity amounted to 66.2

terawatt-hour A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common b ...

s (TWh). About 60% of Switzerland's electricity generation comes from renewable sources, most of it from

hydro Hydro from Ancient Greek word ὕδωρ (húdōr), meaning ''water''. Hydro may also refer to: Energy technologies * Water-derived power or energy: ** Hydropower, derived from water ** Hydroelectricity, in electrical form * "Hydro", AC mains ...

(56.6%), while non-hydro

renewables Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

supplied a small contribution of 3.4%.

Nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

contributed 37.6% to the country's electricity production and only about 2.5% were generated by fossil fuel based thermal power stations.Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE
Schweizerische Statistik der erneuerbaren Energien 2013
, p. 2 and 6, 25 September 2014Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE

, p. 2 and 3, 23 June 2014

Consumption

According to IEA the electricity use (gross production + imports – exports – transmission/distribution losses) in Switzerland was in 2004 60.6 TWh, (2007) 61.6 TWh and (2008) 63.5 TWh. IEA Key stats 2010
page 56 In 2008 Switzerland consumed electricity per inhabitant 122% compared to the European Union 15 average (9,052 / EU15: 7,409 electricity use per inhabitant 2008, kWh/person) Energy in Sweden 2010, table: Specific electricity production per inhabitant with breakdown by power source Table 49
. and 133% compared to the United Kingdom (2008: UK 372.19 TWh per 59.9milj. person and Switzerland 63,53 TWh per 7,71 milj.person).

Hydro power

Hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

is by far the country's most important source of electricity, and contributing more than half to its electricity generation. Hydro power is generally divided into conventional hydroelectricity (using a dam) and

. In addition, pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH) plays an important role in Switzerland, being used in combination with

base load power plant The base load (also baseload) is the minimum level of demand on an electrical grid over a span of time, for example, one week. This demand can be met by unvarying power plants, dispatchable generation, or by a collection of smaller intermittent en ...

s and to ''green-washing'' nuclear power from France.

Small hydro

The ''KEV remuneration'' (see below) also applies to small-scale hydro power plants with nameplate capacities up to 10 megawatts.

Nuclear power

There are four nuclear power plants, with a total of five operational reactors. In 2013, they produced 24.8

s (TWh) of electricity. Nuclear power accounted for 36.4% of the nation's gross electricity generation of 68.3 TWh In addition, there are a number of

research reactor Research reactors are nuclear fission-based nuclear reactors that serve primarily as a neutron source. They are also called non-power reactors, in contrast to power reactors that are used for electricity production, heat generation, or marit ...

s in Switzerland, one of them at the EPFL. In 2011, the federal authorities decided to gradually phase out nuclear power in Switzerland as a consequence of the

Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima University, national university in Japan *** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...

accident in Japan. In late 2013 the operator BKW decided to cease all electrical generation in 2019 in the

Mühleberg Mühleberg is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Mühleberg is first mentioned in 1011–16 as ''Mulinberg''. There are several Hallstatt era grave mounds around Mühlebe ...

plant As of December 8, 2014, the National Council has voted to limit the operational life-time of the

Beznau Nuclear Power Plant The Beznau nuclear power plant (german: Kernkraftwerk Beznau KB is a nuclear power plant of the Swiss energy utility Axpo Holding, Axpo, located in the municipality Döttingen, Switzerland, Döttingen, Canton of Aargau, Switzerland, on an ar ...

—which houses the oldest commercial reactor in the world—to 60 years, forcing decommissioning upon its two reactors by 2029 and 2031, respectively.

Oil power

From 1965 until 1999, the Chavalon plant in Valais, above the Collombey refinery, had an electrical power output of two times 142 megawatts. The refinery was shut down in 2015, and will be dismantled until 2022.

Gas power

A newly built gas power plant is debated to cover future power shortages during the winter. There are considerations regarding a

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

testing facility in Birr AG belonging to the Italian engineering firm

Ansaldo Energia Ansaldo Energia S.p.A. is an Italian power engineering company. It is based in Genoa, Italy. The absorbed parent company, Gio. Ansaldo & C., started in 1853. It was taken over by Leonardo S.p.A. In 2011, Leonardo S.p.A. sold 45% stake in An ...

. The facility is connected to both the gas and the electricity grid, and when both installed turbines are running, it feeds 740 megawatts into the Swiss electricity grid.

Non-hydro renewables

Feed-in remuneration at cost (KEV)

The federal government adopted feed-in tariffs to offer a cost-based compensation to renewable energy producers. The feed-in remuneration at cost (''KEV'', german: Kostendeckende Einspeisevergütung, french: Rétribution à prix coûtant du courant injecté, it, Rimunerazione a copertura dei costi per l'immissione in rete di energia elettrica) is the primary instrument for promoting the deployment of power systems using

renewable energy sources Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

. It covers the difference between the production and the market price, and guarantees producers of electricity from renewable sources a price that corresponds to their production costs. The following renewable energy sources are supported by the KEV remuneration: distributed

small hydro Small hydro is the development of hydroelectric power on a scale suitable for local community and industry, or to contribute to distributed generation in a regional electricity grid. Exact definitions vary, but a "small hydro" project is less ...

(with capacities up to 10 MW),

solar photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller impact on the environment than burning fossil fuels. Historically ...

, geothermal energy, biomass and

biogas Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...

(from agriculture, waste and water treatment). The KEV remuneration is financed by collecting a surcharge on the consumed kilowatt-hour of electricity. As in other countries, industries with a large electricity consumption are exempt from the surcharge, which has gradually been increased and stands at 1.5 cents per kWh as of 2014. The remuneration tariffs for renewables have been specified based on reference power plants for each individual technology. Feed-in tariffs are applicable for 20 to 25 years, depending on the technology. In view of the anticipated technological progress and the increasing degree of market maturity of renewables energy technologies (especially for solar PV), the feed-in tariffs are subjected to a gradual reduction once or twice a year. These reductions only apply to new production facilities that are put into operation. Planned installations of renewable power facilities have to be registered with Swissgrid, the national network operator. As of the end of 2014, a growing waiting list for solar photovoltaic systems has accumulated as demand excess the capped capacities given by the currently available funds of the KEV remuneration.

Wind power

Swiss wind power accounted for only 146 GWh or 0.2% of net-electricity production in 2019.

Solar power

For many years, Switzerland's pace of deploying

solar PV A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and co ...

had been lagging significantly behind its neighboring Germany and Italy. However, installed capacity of solar PV increased by 300 MW or 69% to 737 MW in 2013 and is likely to continue its strong growth due to the recently ramped up KEV funds. In 2014, another installed 320 MW brought the country beyond the gigawatt mark and the IEA-PVPS estimates the now installed capacity sufficient to supply close to 2% of the domestic electricity demands.

Geothermal power

induced seismicity in Basel Induced seismicity in Basel led to suspension of its hot dry rock enhanced geothermal systems project. A seismic-hazard evaluation was then conducted, resulting in the cancellation of the project in December 2009. Basel, Switzerland sits atop a hist ...

led the city to suspend a geothermal energy project and conduct a seismic hazard evaluation, which resulted in its cancellation in December 2009.

Global warming

Emissions of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...

in total, per capita in 2007 were 5.6 tons CO₂ compared to EU 27 average 7.9 tons CO₂.

Carbon dioxide emissions

A study published in 2009 showed that the emissions of carbon dioxide () due to the electricity consumed in Switzerland (total: 5.7 million

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

s) are seven times higher than the emissions of carbon dioxide due to the electricity produced in Switzerland (total: 0.8 million tonnes). TEP Energy GmbH
"Intensité de l’électricité vendue aux consommateurs finaux en Suisse"
17 July 2009 (page visited on 6 October 2013). The study also show that the production in Switzerland (64.6 TWh) is similar to the amount of electricity consumed in the country (63.7 TWh). Overall, Switzerland exports 7.6 TWh and imports 6.8 TWh; but, in terms of emissions of carbon dioxide, Switzerland exports "clean" electricity causing emissions of 0.1 million tonnes of and imports "dirty" electricity causing emissions of 5 million tonnes of . The electricity ''produced'' in Switzerland generated 14 grammes of per kilowatt hour. The electricity ''consumed'' in Switzerland generated 100 grammes of per kilowatt hour. Isabelle Chevalley
"D’où vient l’électricité que vous consommez ?"
''

Le Temps ''Le Temps'' ( literally "The Time") is a Swiss French-language daily newspaper published in Berliner format in Geneva by Le Temps SA. It is the sole nationwide French-language non-specialised daily newspaper of Switzerland. Since 2021, it has ...

'', 7 October 2009 (page visited on 6 October 2013).

Power stations

In Switzerland, there also exists a single-phase AC grid operated with 16.7 Hz for power supply of railway lines, see

List of installations for 15 kV AC railway electrification in Germany, Austria and Switzerland Germany, Austria and Switzerland operate the largest interconnected 15 kV 16.7 Hz system, which has central generation, a special transmission network, central and decentral converter plants. Germany In Germany, the voltage of tractio ...