Renewable energies in the Alps: climate protection in tune with nature?

In order to achieve its climate objectives, Switzerland is pushing to build large wind and solar power plants. By 2035, renewable energies, excluding hydropower, will have to produce six times more electricity than today. This is what the new Energy Supply Law approved by popular vote last summer provides.

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“With the current legal framework, this expansion risks occurring to the detriment of biodiversity,” warns Sascha Nick, researcher at the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne (EPFL). Under his direction, research carried out with 45 other scientists specializing in renewable energies, climate and biodiversity reflects this concern. Published recently, their report (RE-BD AR2024 – Executive Summary. Accelerating renewable energy development while enhancing biodiversity protection in SwitzerlandExternal link) has established several urgent recommendations for the attention of the political sphere in Switzerland.

“The good news is that by careful planning we can significantly expand renewable energies without endangering biodiversity,” he explains to swissinfo.ch. But the conclusions of the report could not be clearer: expansion must be accompanied by an integrative approach reconciling energy needs and biodiversity.

Solar power in ski resorts

The Swiss territory may fit into a pocket handkerchief, but the varieties of animal and plant species that grow there are rich. As much in the Alps as in the forests or marshy plains. But they are often not protected enough. Threatened as much by roads, intensive agriculture, rampant urbanity, these scientists describe in the report.

It is obvious that to fill the energy deficit in Switzerland in winter, the development of wind and solar power, particularly in the Alps, is a necessity, according to the research team led by Sascha Nick. But this area is also home to a number of ecologically sensitive habitats. This is why projects come up against opposition and a form of resistance from indigenous people and environmental defense organizations.

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Free-for-all around Alpine solar parks

This content was published on

18 oct. 2022

Projects for giant solar parks in the Alps are raising hopes and controversies.

read more Free-for-all around Alpine solar parks

The authors of the report call for a national strategy giving priority to initiatives with little or a positive impact on nature and biodiversity. From EPFL in Lausanne, these researchers have underlined the importance that must also be given here to the democratic process.

If on the one hand the approval procedures are accelerated and streamlined, on the other hand the populations concerned must continue to be able to have their say. Their opinion cannot be silenced in the name of urgency. According to the team led by Sascha Nick, projects can only be accepted by taking the pulse of the population and involving them in planning.

One of the recommendations of this report, published in October, calls for example to reassess the size of projects of national importance, in order to allow other, smaller ones to benefit from federal funding. A multitude of smaller installations could do the job in place of large solar parks. Installations in places where possible already connected to the electricity network and where no new road should be built. Near, for example, ski lifts that are out of order in resorts that are suffering from climate change and are no longer suitable for skiing.

“Politicians often say that we have to choose between biodiversity and climate protection. In our opinion, the question should ultimately be: more renewable energies or more skiing?,” says Sascha Nick.

Birds and bats

The choice of sites remains the key element in the expansion of the Swiss wind farm. Co-author of the report and professor of conservation biology at the University of Bern, Raphaël Arlettaz has long studied the risks linked to the presence of wind turbines for birds and bats. In this regard, his team has developed cartographic models capable of precisely identifying risk areas, for example for the bearded vulture or the golden eagle.

To do this, it was based on their most frequent flight paths in the Alps. According to his findings, steep south-facing slopes with updrafts and areas with large ibex populations are critical. The corridors used by migratory birds and the breeding areas of threatened species must also be taken into account, according to him. “We should avoid wind turbines in these sensitive places if we want to protect avifauna,” he notes to swissinfo.ch.

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Where should wind turbines be built in Switzerland?

This content was published on

04 avr. 2023

Switzerland would need around 760 wind turbines to make the energy shift. A smaller number could also be sufficient, using agricultural land.

read more Where should wind turbines be built in Switzerland?

The risks to bats could also be mitigated by turning off wind turbines when wind speeds are low. During work carried out in the Rhône valley, he observed, for example, that local species such as murine mice and the European free-tailed bat flew close to the ground and along hedges and structures if the wind was strong. But they only venture near wind turbines when the wind weakens. “Adapting the operation of wind turbines can certainly slightly reduce electricity production, but it also minimizes the risk of collision with birds,” he explains.

Even planning new energy projects as carefully as possible is no longer enough. The authors of the report were interested in already existing infrastructures. Thus, electricity pylons could be safer for birds. Studies by Professor Arlettaz carried out in 2010 had already shown that certain medium voltage pylons are the number one cause of death of the eagle owl in Switzerland. A significant number of storks, owls and kites also die from electrocution each year. These lines would be safer by burying them in the ground or insulating them. “We should resolve these problems before installing new power plants across the Alps,” advocates Raphaël Arlettaz.

“A little imagination” to integrate energy and biodiversity

At the head of the Biodiversity Consultancy organization in Cambridge, Great Britain, which was called upon to give its opinion on this report, Leon Bennun also emphasizes the importance that must be given to integrated planning.

“If Switzerland wants to develop its renewable energies while preserving its biodiversity, the system must be rethought as a whole and not project by project as is still the case today. We must stop operating in silos and only taking into account individual aspects,” he says. Nature restoration and conservation coupled with secure energy production require “synergies and thoughtful compromises on a large scale so that society can reap certain benefits,” he says.

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Is biodiversity preserved in the Swiss Alps?

The needs of a growing human population often clash with those of nature.

read more Is biodiversity preserved in the Swiss Alps?

Smaller decentralized projects are promising, continues Leon Bennun. Modest initiatives carried out by communities would in fact have a greater chance of achieving the objectives of maintaining biodiversity than major plans such as many States are planning. And these projects can succeed by involving populations throughout the process.

“With a little imagination, wind turbines, photovoltaic installations or biogas plants can be assets for the communities concerned. And be valuable for humans and for plants and animals,” he concludes.

Text proofread and verified by Sabrina Weiss and Veronica DeVore, translated from English by Alain Meyer/op

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