There is no question that tomorrow’s energy will be renewable. And we cannot afford any question any more. The debate is today in the pace at which the energy transition will and can take place. The simple answer is: as quickly as possible, if we do not want to see Switzerland (and Europe) losing its competitive advantage. A rapid transition will not only benefit our environment, it will also benefit our economy.

In a study yet to be published and presented in Düsseldorf during the Energy Storage Conference 2017[1], the University of Lappeenranta (Finland) demonstrates that it is feasible to reach a 100% renewable for electricity in Europe by 2030. All technical solutions to eliminate the need for base load from fossil or nuclear are there: from generation to storage, from solar to wind, from batteries to hydrogen. Worldwide, renewables account already today for roughly a quarter of the electricity production.[2] Renewable power costs are in continuous decline and are in many cases broadly competitive with conventional sources.

Of course obstacles remain, but they are not really technical and can be overcome by adequate political and economical drivers. Subsidies on fossil fuels and their (artificially) low cost still bias the competition (ww. over USD 550 billion subsidies in 2013)[3]. Insufficient grid infrastructures and inadequate energy managements are also in some places blocking the development of renewables. China for example suffers from an overcapacity of power production favored by low coal prices and fixed electricity tariff. In some provinces, more than 30% of the wind production capacity was wasted in 2016 due among others to transmission bottlenecks and excess electricity. In response to this problem, the country is thus planning to invest in energy storage capacities[4].

As Hans-Josef Fell, member of the German Parliament and president of the Energy Watch Group, indicates in a recent interview[5]: “The most important drivers of renewables are the hundreds of thousands of highly innovative small and medium-sized enterprises…  Chinese and Asian companies are advancing and play a bigger role than ever”. A rapid transition, in Switzerland and in Europe, will not only benefit our environment, it will also benefit our economy, allow small and medium-sized companies to remain at the cutting-edge of the technology and to keep their jobs[6].

[1] H.J. Fell, “100% Renewable Energy System is feasible by including Storage Technologies” IRES2017, Düsseldorf, March 14-16.

[2] Petrichenko, K. (2016). Energy Efficiency: Renewable Energy’s Twin Pillar. In Renewables 2015 – Global Status Report: Annual Reporting on Renewables: Ten years of excellence (pp. 112-121). Paris: Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century

[3] Idem

[4] China turns to energy storage to push renewables, Charles Vest, Tuesday 28 February 2017, http://www.eco-business.com/news/china-turns-to-energy-storage-to-push-renewables/ accessed March 22, 2017

[5] January 22nd, 2017,  The Beam Magazine.

[6] Estimated to over a million jobs in Europe (direct and indirect, for all renewable energy). Sources Petrichenko, K. (2016).