Consequent to the Fukushima event of 2011, The Swiss chambers adopted a new strategy to phase out nuclear energy with geothermal. 58 % of the population voted for geothermal in May 2017. The Swiss President who hold the Energy Ministry brought out Energy Strategy 2050, that intends to decommission the five nuclear reactors in the country. A bold step and the faith the people have on EGS. Besides geothermal, the strategy also includes other sources of renewables like hydro, solar, wind and biomass. By 2050 the Strategy targets developing 4400 GWh/y from geothermal. The Strategy has announced FiT (feed in tariff) for hydrothermal and ES as shown below. CHF is more or less equal to US$.
– Deep exploration can be supported by up to 60 percent of eligible costs. The most important of these eligible costs include access roads and well pads, drilling, tests and stimulation of exploration wells.- Geothermal energy guarantee for electricity projects increases from 50 to 60 percent. If a well is not successful, the Confederation can reimburse up to 60 percent of the eligible costs, among them: preparation, construction and dismantling of the drilling site, drilling costs including pipes, cementation and completion for all planned production and injection wells, and well logs and tests.The guarantee and the exploration support scheme are both funded via a maximum 0.1 Rappen (about the same in US Cent) per kWh from voltage grid surcharge. The annual Swiss electricity consumption is about 60 TWh and results in a fund of about 60 Million CHF/y. Geothermal energy is now deemed of national interest in the country, which will also accelerate the planning and permitting of new geothermal projects.
Swiss people will have clean and low cost energy for the next several generations. India too has several EGS sites. Will the country know what is EGS??
