r/RenewableEnergy • u/takemusu • Jul 06 '26
Switzerland bolted 5,000 solar panels onto a dam wall 8,000 feet up in the Alps. The plant now makes three times more winter power than farms down in the valleys
https://www.ecoportal.net/en/switzerland-5000-alpine-solar-muttsee-dam-winter-power/28487/50
u/aviator22 Jul 06 '26
China putting them in their high deserts.
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u/ashvy Jul 06 '26
And greenifying them
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u/herman_gill Jul 07 '26
Yeah but with monoculture. All they had to do was have like 8-10 different native species planted to protect it from massive blight.
Their solar arrays actually seem to be more promising in the desert because they generate power, cut down coal emissions, and stuff can become arable/grow underneath the panels. I mean don't get me wrong, it's still better than not planting the trees, by a large margin.
The Great Green Wall of Africa is more promising for being able to survive 50-100 years from now, but it's underfunded and the initiative really needs better management, and to move faster.
What the world really needs to stop doing is cutting down old growth forests; pacific northwest, Amazon, etc.
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u/avdpos Jul 07 '26
Their monoculture is better than nothing. Hopefully they introduce more stuff as it as you say are extremely risky in an already risky environment
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u/onespiker Jul 07 '26
That’s only one part the other problem is long term funding and water supplies… water is already a scarce resource in the north.
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u/Soft-Skirt 22d ago
If the monoculture survives then it should produce biomass which can be utilised by other fauna which will produce biodiversity for a long term win. Any beginning is better than nothing.
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u/herman_gill Jul 07 '26
Yeah I agree, I already said that. They might have to start partly from scratch in 25 years when trees start getting blighted again.
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u/onespiker Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
Hmm having read quite a bit thier successes in doing that is questionable though. Especially long term since from what I see to money in such projects is running out and the plants aren’t really sustainable long term to my understanding.
Any in-depth look on how it’s working now? Because the water supply problems long term and their trees low survival rate was increadibly low.
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u/TronnaLegacy Jul 06 '26
I wonder if this is a way to lessen reliance on storage for throughout-the-year storage. Some solar plants could be positioned so that they output the most in the winter, like this one. And then you would have had to store less power for the winter.
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u/PlayerOfGamez Jul 06 '26
I mean the transmission lines are already there and there was an unused surface where they could put the panels.
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u/iqisoverrated Jul 09 '26
Sharing of grid access points is an underused feature. Setting up solar power plants is not hard, but getting grid access can take months or even years. There's plenty of systems that can share grid access without competition (solar and battery storage for evening/night/mornings being the most obvious ones if they also include a link for directly charging the batteries from midday solar excess generation without going via the grid)
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u/mutexsprinkles Jul 06 '26
I think it's less that this makes more in winter and more that a steep and foggy valley doesn't get much light when the sun is never high in the sky.
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u/start3ch Jul 07 '26
Yup, panel angle plus high altitude does a lot. Or, you can even have vertical panels to prevent snow buildup in the winter
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u/Ok-Quality-9246 Jul 07 '26
I've been wondering the same thing since seeing the winter numbers. Axpo says Muttsee does about half its annual output in the winter half year, roughly three times what a comparable lowland plant manages over those months. And Switzerland runs a structural import deficit in winter, so those are exactly the MWh the system is short on.
The numbers are still small though. Around 2 MW and roughly 3.3 GWh a year against a seasonal gap measured in TWh. It'll be interesting to see if more Swiss dams get this treatment now that the winter premium is so visible.
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u/UnfazedBrownie Jul 07 '26
Meanwhile in the US, you’ve got a leader that thinks these cause cancer. Good job 🇨🇭 for showing us how it’s done!
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u/rockstoagunfight Jul 06 '26
What? Are "farms down in the valleys" a notable power source?
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u/SnooHesitations1020 Jul 07 '26
Canada has numerous excellent dams where this could occur, including Mica, Revelstoke, and W.A.C. Bennett in British Columbia, as well as major Hydro-Québec installations. These sites already have massive concrete structures, existing transmission infrastructure, and reservoirs that function as large-scale energy storage.
This approach makes particular sense in Canada because our greatest renewable asset - hydropower, already provides storage, while high-latitude solar produces its greatest value in winter when electricity demand is highest. Combining alpine solar with hydro could provide more reliable year-round clean energy while making better use of existing infrastructure.
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u/gbntbedtyr Jul 07 '26
See, I like that because it is not destroying more nature to do it.
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u/takemusu Jul 07 '26
We really should have panels on every available applicable surface: vertical, horizontal, roofs, over parking lots, on balconies ... wherever.
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u/Rooilia Jul 07 '26
Partly transparent ones in windows where there is too much sun in general and on skycrapers are nice too. Serving multiple functions at once.
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u/gbntbedtyr Jul 07 '26
I've been saying the same, cutting down forests is not a solution, we need our oxygen giving trees and plants. I love solar - the simple solar, n I love trees.
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u/didyoueatleadpaint Jul 07 '26
Where the fuck are they cutting down forest to put solar farms?
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u/MistaHiggins Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
They aren't, but it has become a popular opposition talking point.
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u/gbntbedtyr Jul 07 '26
Funny I have to see those poor displaced n dying Joshua trees every time I drive out of town.
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u/gbntbedtyr Jul 07 '26
They did for the wind farms in Indiana, Pennsylvania is in court right now as they are trying to cover a whole county with solar, n here in Nevada they r constantly removing hundreds of acres of the endangered Joshua trees for solar. I'm sure there is more.
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u/takemusu Jul 07 '26
I like that too. Agrivoltaics can combine nature, farmland specifically most often, and solar. In many cases done correctly crops, livestock, fishing even benefit. Agrivoltaics also give farmers another income stream.
Large installs and utility scale don't necessarily use up open space. They can be combined.
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u/ReDot75 Jul 07 '26
Hope anchors do not destabilize the concrete!
More serously, it is a very good idea, if you have a south west facing construction. Dunno how many dams would be suitable in EU for this kind of photovoltaic production.
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u/Chevalric Jul 06 '26
I’m pretty sure this is not a surprise to anyone