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  4. Risks and Reliability in a Fully Renewable Switzerland
 
conference paper not in proceedings

Risks and Reliability in a Fully Renewable Switzerland

Bartlett, Stuart John  
•
Kruyt, Bert  
•
Kahl, Annelen  
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2015
European Safety and Reliability Conference 2015

In Switzerland, the government has made ambitious plans for a major energy transition. There is a planned phase out of nuclear facilities by mid-century, their capacity replaced by an expansion of hydroelectric infrastructure, new geothermal installations, and a considerable number of new solar and wind plants. The principle challenge of this transition is the variational nature of renewable energy. For example, Switzerland generates significantly more hydroelectric power during the snowmelt season than in mid-winter, and solar power has lower yields in the winter. Thus a 100% renewable Switzerland is a desirable goal but brings great challenges, which require specific methods of management. In this work, we carry out a first order assessment of a future Swiss energy system powered exclusively by renewable energy, and highlight the principle operational risks. We approximate yields from the various renewable sources as a function of time using meteorological data for the five year period: 2010-2014. We then highlight power surpluses and deficits with respect to domestic demand. In these situations, energy trade or energy storage must be elicited. We also perform simple power flow simulations of this fully renewable Swiss energy system, allowing us to calculate a lower estimate of the storage facilities required to smooth out seasonal variations. The conclusions raise several fundamental questions concerning the optimal infrastructure investments to be made as Switzerland undergoes its energy transition.

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Type
conference paper not in proceedings
Author(s)
Bartlett, Stuart John  
Kruyt, Bert  
Kahl, Annelen  
Lehning, Michael  
Date Issued

2015

Subjects

power system

•

renewable energy

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
CRYOS  
Event nameEvent placeEvent date
European Safety and Reliability Conference 2015

Zurich, Switzerland

September 7-10, 2015

Available on Infoscience
June 9, 2015
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/114987
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