The Swiss photovoltaic market registered stable demand in 2017, despite an uncertain environment. According to provisional estimates released by local solar association, Swissolar, between 250 and 270 MW of new PV installations were connected to the country’s grid last year.
“Thus, the share of solar power in Swiss electricity consumption has increased by around 1.5% to about 3%, and is now by far the second-most important source of renewable energy after hydropower,” the association stated.
For the current year, the association expects an even better result. The reasons for this are to be found in the laws and regulations adopted in the frame of the “Energy Strategy 2050”, which would now provide more benefit for PV. These came into force at the turn of the year.
According to Swissolar, there are now good general conditions for large PV systems – but only if the main part of the solar power is consumed directly on site. In addition, investors will have to adjust to long waiting periods for the payment of the solar rebates. Overall, however, Swissolar expects that new PV additions for this year may even surpass 300 MW.
Popular content
With regard to the development of the PV global market last year, the Swiss Association said that the newly installed PV power of around 100 GW in 2017 alone would be sufficient to cover twice the annual electricity consumption in Switzerland.
With regard to prices – especially for rooftop PV – there is a considerable discrepancy between Germany and Switzerland. pv magazine has researched possible reasons for this and will publish an analysis shortly.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Looking forward to this report:
“With regard to prices – especially for rooftop PV – there is a considerable discrepancy between Germany and Switzerland. pv magazine has researched possible reasons for this and will publish our analysis shortly.”