Mostly all of our potential for pumped hydro is already developed, and there is not a lot left to do for non-pumped hydro.

We can't grow hydro at the required scale, and the usual problem with solar and wind (that we should develop nonetheless, don't get me wrong) apply: we can't produce enough power with those all year (winter nights need power too for heat pumps etc...)

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cogman10 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Wind would be particularly effective in Switzerland and it's fast to deploy. The swiss grid has less than 1% wind which was pretty shocking to me. It seems like Switzerland has a particularly bad renewable story for an EU nation.

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tribaal 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Wind is not that developed in Switzerland because it's not actually that great of a situation... We have a lot of steep mountains which make building wind farms a real challenge, and the flat plains in between have "meh" levels of wind. And a very strong NIMBY mentality. We do have some projects but those are more exception than rule.

The really awesome wind spots are more the coastal or offshore farms, which... well... we can't have (no access to the sea does that to you).

Solar is really really booming right now however, many houses take themselves off grid completely. Mine is a net producer for example.

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calvinmorrison 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's not in the EU. It is part of the Schengen Agreement.

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jsnell 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It's not an EU nation.

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cogman10 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Oh wow, I didn't realize that! That's crazy, basically everyone that borders them are EU members. I was also under the impression (but haven't checked) that it was pretty easy to cross the swiss border both into and out of the EU.

	▲	Arodex 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Switzerland unilaterally got out of negotiations with the EU, which also dealt with energy grid coordination. As such, as of now, the EU can shut down Switzerland without warning if the grid is overloaded and they need to avoid a blackout.
	▲	estebank 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area