Posted on 02/17/2022 9:49:26 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland plans new hydropower reserves and two or three back-up power plants after officials warned the country would be without power for nearly two days in a worst-case scenario if it does not strike an electricity deal with the EU.
The Swiss government has been working on plans on how to bolster its power network as it moves to more renewable and hydropower, while phasing out nuclear energy.
It has also instructed the energy ministry to draw up plans to build and operate peak-load power plants.
"The reserve power plants are to be available in the event of extraordinary shortages and are to be operated in a climate-neutral manner," the government said in a statement, adding it was also preparing measures to increase electricity efficiency.
The choice of technology and location of the back-up plants was still open, but the government's concept includes the staggered construction of two to three gas-fired power plants with a total capacity of up to 1,000 megawatts.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Might as well add an extra submachinegun in every closet as well.
The Swiss have long (very long!) had a policy of energy self-sufficiency. Along with food, etc. They are known all over Europe as “cunning b@st@rds” for good reason. I say more power to them. Why not? We should do the same.
That’s why the Nazis never considered an invasion of Switzerland. Trying to take on the formidable defensive positions the Swiss built would have result in massive losses by the Germans.
Mostly it was because the Swiss conveniently supplied a safe place to store one’s treasure no matter how WWII turned out. They took everyone’s gold and treasure (Nazi, Jewish, etc) — it mattered not to them. Gold is gold to the Swiss, A very practical people.
But the Swiss remained very keen on keeping up their defenses afterward. When I lived and attended school there as a girl back in the early 1970s, you could still see tank traps at border crossings and all the passes were all mined (kinda made you think when travelling them, especially the tunnels). I don’t know if that is still the case now, as I have not visited in nearly 25 years.
Back when I lived there, it was not unusual to see a military automatic rifle propped against the wall just outside the doorway of a shop. The owner was probably returning home from national guard duty and had stopped to buy a loaf of bread at the behest of his wife. No one touched these rifles. It was an incredibly orderly society. There were exactly 18 unemployed citizens, and only nine people in prison at the time. I found that astounding. Until we were told we had to plant red geraniums in our window boxes that spring and everyone complied. Oops! Being a rebellious American, I “accidentally-on-purpose” purchased and planted pink ones! Bad little girl!
Wait what nuclear power has the lowest carbon dioxide emissions per kWh over its life time than solar or hydro only wind in class 5 or above resource area’s is lower. Nuclear power has a 90% plus up time or properly capacity factor compared to 30_40% for wind and in the 60_80% for hydro.
Short observation…. I'm surprised that the Swiss did not deal with this glaring gap in their vaunted national self sufficiency, security and survivability years ago. Better late than never.
Long observation. The Swiss got bit by relying on external European links for reserve energy. Big fail in regards to self sufficiency. A country must fully control the resource internally.
Commentary…. I worked for about 10 years at a huge petrochemical facility in Texas. Roughly, our electrical production was equivalent to the largest nuclear facilities. These generation plants were all cogeneration cycle to also produce huge amounts of steam used in the production units. Cogen production of electricity + steam is the most efficient utilization of the heat energy from fuel. 100% of the steam was used internally and many 100s of megawatts electricity exported to the Texas Grid.
I had a ringside seat to a 1,500 megawatt gas fired power plant burn down. My location sheltered in place because one route was adjacent to the fire and the second ran into the path of gas releases. Full facility emergency shutdown, gas releases, several dozen huge flares popping off with some running so hard flaming liquid was running down the side and fireballs blown in the air before splattering in the ground, dozens of horns going off signaling unit gas releases, warnings or evacuations. Wild times from my perch in an remote area a quarter mile from the main operations.
So, the energy thing…. When the generating plant tripped offline, we went from an energy exporter to an importer in seconds. Our own power plants spooled up to max capacity but the Texas Grid supplied most of the replacement megawatts initially and ongoing for the next months. A new 1500 megawatt plant was in the last phases of construction and when this came online some months later, we were fully self sufficient again.
What we couldn't supply via the Texas Grid was sufficient steam to keep all the plant units running. A gas fired power plant that came online in about 1940 was retired in the 70s. Instead of demolishing the unit, the company mothballed this old plant and kept it in a high state of preservation with regular operation of mechanical things and controls. From the outside, it appeared a rusty lump but in reality it was a lean, mean tiger. 10 hours after the fire was put out, the old generating plant was producing steam only and the operating units were sequentially starting back up. Planning…. Self sufficiency…. In action, not talk…
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