It’s a simple story but it says a lot regarding the inadequacy of the laws and ordinances supposed to encourage the energy transition. Marc-Henri Guex has just experienced it. A farmer in Boulens, a small village in Gros-de-Vaud, he plans to build two new agricultural halls for fattening chickens. Under contract with a major distributor, he anticipates the day when his main buyer will demand carbon neutrality. And above all, he wants to invest a few years before retirement, just to sell his farm in the best conditions. Investment cost, just over 2 million francs, including a roof covered with photovoltaic cells and a heat pump (heating), thus ensuring carbon neutrality. By the way, the solar roof will save 20,000 to 30,000 liters of fuel oil burned to heat the premises to more than 30°C and the resale of the excess electricity might provide him with a small welcome additional gain in a profession. where you don’t roll on gold. Marc-Henri Guex is convinced, it’s a good plan.
At least, he thought, until this letter of March 3rd. By return mail, the independent electrician appointed by Mr. Guex informed him that the estimate for the electrical connection provided by Romande Energie for the two hangars amounted to… 145,000 francs, an investment payable by the owner, to which he It will be appropriate to add an amount of several tens of thousands of francs for the civil engineering works (trench to bury the new medium voltage line). Nothing out of the ordinary, that’s how prescriptions are made; the connection is the responsibility of the owner. Suffice to say that this bad tile makes the project impossible to finance.
Marc-Henri Guex is far from being an isolated case. According to our research, many of them have roofs well placed to produce the equivalent of a small power station, capable of supplying a hundred households but give up on them following examination. Professor at HES Valais Stéphane Genoud, who has studied the obstacles to the deployment of solar energy in Switzerland, confirms this: “This type of financial obstacle is absurd and very regrettable.” And to be honest, revolting in the mouth of Marc-Henri Guex, he who dreamed twenty years ago of covering his farm with photovoltaic cells, before throwing in the towel, cooled by the conditions offered by his distributor.
“These kinds of financial hurdles are absurd and very regrettable.”
Stéphane Genoud, professor at the HES Valais
This example (like so many others) demonstrates that political intentions and economic conditions are not aligned. Clearly, the connection costs are not attractive for small players while the electricity companies canvass the owners to find the roofs ideally located. “They actually play on two counts. They prefer to rent the roofs and remain the owners of the energy produced”, slips us an independent installer. Behind the scenes, several offices specializing in solar installations complain of unfair competition and non-transparent fees from monopoly holders. Thus, by doing our little investigation, we learn that the problem facing Mr. Guex might be financed by a special fund but which many are unaware of!
Good news though: the connection fee problem has been identified. The new law on the supply of electricity under review this Monday in parliament, provides that Swissgrid might support part of the investment. Only the UDC (the peasants’ party, it is said) opposes it. Understand who can.
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– The bill that kills the peasants’ solar roof
We want more solar electricity produced on the roofs. In fact, we do everything to discourage the best intentions.