The Federal Council of Switzerland is introducing a winter electricity bonus for photovoltaic installations that enter operation from Jan. 1, 2026, onwards.
The mechanism will apply to photovoltaic systems of 100 kW or more. An explanatory report on the revision explains the bonus will be performance-based, linked to the specific electricity yield of the solar installation in the winter half-year from October 1 to March 31.
To be eligible, the installations will have to exceed a threshold of 500 kWh/kW generated during the winter half-year, as the bonus will be calculated by deducting 500 kWh/kW off of the total yield, in order to ensure the bonus is only granted to significantly higher winter electricity production when compared to an average solar system.
“This calculation method is intended to ensure that only those installations with a significantly higher specific winter electricity yield compared to an average installation in the Swiss Plateau, which values between 250 and 300 kWh/kW, benefit from the winter electricity bonus,” the explanatory report says.
The report adds that the bonus will be calculated as a one-time payment based on the specific winter electricity yield averaged over three winter half-years and will be granted to installations both with and without on-site consumption.
“The specific winter electricity yield exceeding 500 kWh/kW of capacity represents the system's specific winter electricity surplus. For each kWh/kW of specific winter electricity surplus, a bonus of CHF 3.50/kW of installed capacity is granted as a one-time payment for systems without on-site consumption,” the report explains.
It adds that for installations supported through a sliding market premium, the CHF 3.50/kW will be divided across the 20-year compensation period, resulting in an amount of CHF 0.175/kW annually, which would be multiplied by the installation’s winter electricity surplus.
The new mechanism will replace Switzerland’s altitude bonus for photovoltaics, in force since 2023, The altitude bonus covered solar systems at least 1,500 meters above sea level that produced a minimum 500 kWh/kW annually during the half-year between October 1 and March 31. It covered up to 60% of eligible investment costs of qualified projects.
The Federal Council has also approved new interim targets for renewable electricity production by the end of the decade as Switzerland works towards a goal of 35 TWh of renewables, excluding hydropower, by 2035, and 45 TWh by 2050, as outlined by the Federal Act on a Secure Electricity Supply Based on Renewable Energy Sources.
The new target sets a goal of reaching 23 TWh of electricity production from renewables by 2030, 18.7 TWh of which should come from photovoltaics.
According to the National Survey Report of PV Power Applications in Switzerland, published in October by the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA-PVPS), photovoltaics produced 5.96 TWh of electricity in Switzerland by the end of 2024, accounting for 10.36% of the country’s electricity consumption in 2024.
The report added that Switzerland’s cumulative solar capacity stood at 8.17 GW at the end of last year after 1,799 MW were deployed across 2024.
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