Share this article on:
Published on 18.01.2022
Energy ” Simonetta Sommaruga wants faster permits for wind turbines.
Environment Minister Simonetta Sommaruga will “soon” submit to the Federal Council a project aimed at accelerating the authorization of installations producing electricity with renewable energies. However, she does not want to prevent appeals.
“For major hydroelectric and wind power installations, there should only be an authorization procedure,” said Ms. Sommaruga in an interview broadcast yesterday in the newspapers of the press group CH-Media. Appeals against such installations must remain possible, she adds, “but only once and not at each stage of the procedure”.
The time saved thanks to an accelerated procedure is however difficult to quantify, continues the socialist. She rejects the SVP’s idea of appointing an “electricity general”, whose mission would be to work out various solutions in order to guarantee a secure, independent and cheap electricity supply. “We are not at war.”
The parliament and the Federal Council are doing their job, notes the minister, and the electricity branch is also in demand. “All assume their responsibilities.”
Investments in renewable electricity reached a record in 2021, which will probably exceed that already reached in 2020, also underlines Ms. Sommaruga in a video posted on Twitter. Photovoltaics, in particular, is booming.
In terms of additional construction per inhabitant, Switzerland is now one of the leading countries in Europe. The renovation of buildings and the replacement of heating systems are also on the rise.
On Saturday, SVP delegates instructed the party leadership to commit to a secure, independent and cheap energy supply. The UDC believes that the most serious threat hanging over Switzerland is a shortage of electricity.
“Security supply is at the very top of the list,” notes Ms. Sommaruga in this regard. “The law has been available for six months, I am now counting on parliament to move forward,” she said. “We can develop 2 terawatt hours of storage hydropower by 2040,” she also says.
“The no to the framework agreement has certainly not simplified things, both politically and technically,” finally notes the minister. ATS