“Wrong example Germany“

Germany’s Energiewende is not a model for Switzerland, Christoph Eisenring writes in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung as the country gears up for a referendum about the Swiss government’s energy strategy 2050, which includes a nuclear phase-out. German politicians had underestimated the impact of renewables on the energy system as a whole, on conventional energy generation and on its neighbours, he writes. “There is no reason for Switzerland with its high share in CO2-free electricity to follow the self-declared posterchild.”

Writing in the same paper, Christof Forster points to differences and similarities between the two countries’ energy policies. Switzerland already has a high share of 60% renewable power from hydro and started later with the support for other renewables.

Read the articles in German here and here.

Find background in CLEW dossiers on the Energiewende and the German power market and on the impact on its neighbouring countries in The solo draws to a close and Loop flows: Why is wind power from northern Germany putting east European grids under pressure?

For an introduction to Germany’s Energiewende check out the CLEW Easy Guide and find information on Switzerland’s energy strategy referendum on Swissinfo.ch.