Switzerland will be able to cut electricity for up to four hours a day in winter due to the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine and the possible interruption of Russian gas supplies, the government and electricity companies admitted on Wednesday.
The measure would be the most drastic and the last to be applied in the contingency plan presented this Wednesday by the director of the association of Swiss electricity companies VSE, Michael Frank, at a joint press conference with officials from the Swiss Federal Department of Energy, in which the supply crisis plaguing Europe was discussed.
In a first phase, only voluntary savings measures will be promoted through an awareness campaign that will begin in August, but if the situation worsens, the plan will move forward with the reduction of less essential electrical consumption, such as lighting shops or public spaces at night.
In a third phase, approx. 30 thousand companies will be forced to save up to 30 percent of their consumption of electricity and only as a last resort will power outages be applied.
The risk of power shortages is real,” the representative of the country’s power companies said in remarks published by the Swiss news agency ATS.
At the same conference, the director of the Swiss Federal Department of Energy, Benoît Revaz, acknowledged “an unprecedented level of uncertainty in Europe” regarding energy supply, with prices greatly affected by the war.
Revaz added that Switzerland is currently negotiating gas supply deals with neighboring Germany and Italy, while working with energy operators to secure reserves to withstand the winter.
About 47 percent of Switzerland’s gas comes from Russiadespite the fact that most of this energy resource is channeled through neighboring countries such as France and Germany, Norway being its second largest supplier.
Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine on February 24 that has killed more than 5,000 civilians, according to the UN, which warns the true toll is likely to be much higher.
The Russian invasion was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and tightening economic and political sanctions on Moscow.
The geopolitical tensions due to the war in Ukraine have affected the European energy market, since the European Union imports 90% of the gas it consumes, with Russia being responsible for around 45% of these imports, at varying levels between the Member States.
Source: Observadora
