In 2023, Swiss voters accepted a plan to offer subsidies to interchange oil and fundamental electrical heating with cleaner extra environment friendly heating, equivalent to electrical warmth pumps. The plan concerned spending CHF 200 million a yr on such incentives over a 10-year interval beginning on 1 January 2025. Nonetheless, Switzerland’s federal parliament determined in December 2024 to chop the quantum of the subsidies in 2025 by one quarter, reported RTS.
This belt tightening by parliament has been severely criticised by politicians involved in regards to the surroundings who level out that the lower can also be an affront to the democratic will of Swiss voters.
The Federal Council has mentioned it’s troublesome to keep up all of those subsidies given the detrimental state of Switzerland’s public funds. Nonetheless, its precedence stays targeted on changing excessive emission heating methods.
In keeping with Roger Nordmann, a parliamentarian from the Socialist Get together, the cuts are at odds with this precedence. He wish to see sooner motion on the matter and described the transfer as brief time period politics.
One other problem in Switzerland is the excessive price of upgrading heating methods. In nations like Sweden the place environment friendly warmth pumps are ubiquitous, the set up price is a fraction of what it’s in Switzerland. For instance, floor supply warmth pumps, the most costly kind of warmth pump in Sweden, price roughly CHF 17,000 (208,000 SEK). In Switzerland, the same system may set a house owner again CHF 50,000.
Variations in labour price would solely account for a number of thousand francs of the distinction between these costs, given how few man hours are concerned in arrange. Overseas gear producers forcing excessive costs on Swiss set up corporations would possibly account for a few of the remaining distinction, however gray market imports may doubtlessly repair this. An absence of competitors amongst installers is likely to be one other issue.
Switzerland’s excessive costs are a major drag on the adoption of vitality environment friendly heating, significantly when Switzerland’s excessive electrical energy costs are factored in. The extra prices of upkeep that include the entire transferring components in warmth pumps in comparison with the restricted upkeep related to fuel and oil burners are one other excessive price in Switzerland.
Some corporations that promote and set up warmth pumps, when pushed, will admit that the economics of switching to a warmth pump are marginal given the prices of set up, upkeep and the excessive worth of electrical energy – warmth pumps are extremely environment friendly however nonetheless eat a considerable quantity of electrical energy.
Politicians in Switzerland are inclined to overlook the affect of excessive Swiss costs on the vitality transition. However making use of subsidies to a market with structural points would possibly simply push costs increased, undoing any incentive. If a floor supply warmth pump price CHF 17,000 in Switzerland much more of them can be put in, with or with out subsidies.
The price of photo voltaic panels in Switzerland is one other drawback. A extra aggressive environment friendly market may shave 30% to 50% of the worth of photo voltaic panels and their set up, even after paying increased Swiss wages. With the web, these comparative calculations are simply made. Discovering an organization in Switzerland providing aggressive costs isn’t. As well as, oversizing photo voltaic installations in Switzerland is now thought of a dangerous funding. The costs paid for injected electrical energy are falling, and more and more few belief that grid operators gained’t use their monopoly energy to push these costs decrease.
Extra on this:
RTS article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French check now
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