O
ver the
October half term a
group of sixth form
physics students…
RENEWABLE
ENERGY IN
GENEVA,
SWITZERLAND
…had the opportunity to visit the Verbois dam on the Rhône in Geneva. Opened in 1943, the
dam produces 15% of Geneva’s power by using the flow of the river to turn four Kaplan
turbines, producing 466 GWh of energy each year. In addition to the benefit of reducing
the usage of fossil fuels, the dam itself is especially environmentally friendly. The dam
contains a fish ladder, made up of multiple stepped basins, that allows local fish to easily
swim upstream, and the site is surrounded by protected countryside, so as to reduce the
disturbance to local wildlife.
In the 1970s, hydroelectric power (HEP) provided almost 90% of Switzerland’s power. Since then, five
nuclear reactors have been built in Switzerland, resulting in a greater dependence on nuclear energy,
which now provides 40% of the country's energy. As a result, the provision of energy through HEP has
decreased to 56%. Currently, this distribution of energy is adequate, since both sources of power are
renewable and manage to satisfy the country’s energy needs. However, as a result of the nuclear
power plant meltdown in Fukushima, Japan in 2011, and due to a growing distrust in nuclear power, the
Swiss government has planned to decommission all of its nuclear power plants by the year 2034.
Once this happens, Switzerland’s energy reliance will shift back to hydroelectric power. However,
Switzerland’s glaciers, which provide the vast majority of water for hydroelectric power, are already
starting to diminish due to increasing global temperatures caused by climate change. In the short
term, this will actually increase the flow of water, making HEP plants more efficient, but eventually the
glaciers will melt completely, causing the reliability of hydroelectric power to dwindle, and causing
Switzerland to gradually lose its primary power source.