A large alpine solar power plant is to be installed on the wall of the Lake Lei dam, near Ferrera (GR). Covering an area of 1,800 square meters, it was built by the electrical services of the city of Zurich (EWZ).
Located at an altitude of 1,930 meters, the plant will be made up of more than 1,000 modules with a total power of 350 kilowatts, or the equivalent of the consumption of 160 households. The construction costs are estimated at 800,000 francs. Commissioning is scheduled for the end of September.
Lake Lei is almost entirely on Italian territory. Only the 141 meter high dam is located on Swiss soil, on the territory of the municipality of Ferrera.
It is the second large solar installation of the EWZ on a dam. The other was commissioned in 2020 on the Albigna dam, south of Bregaglia, also in Graubünden.
The largest alpine solar installation in Switzerland is located on the dam of Lake Mutt in the canton of Glarus. Covering an area of 10,000 square meters, it has a power of 2.2 megawatts,
As the Federal Office of Energy reminds us, the first photovoltaic installation in Europe was commissioned in 1982 near Lugano. Still in service, the TISO (Ticino Solare) has a power of 10 kilowatts.
/ATS