Politics More wind energy is being produced in Switzerland than ever before
Never before has so much wind energy been generated in Switzerland as last year. A total of 170 million kilowatt hours were produced, according to the Swiss Wind Energy Association.
18.02.2025, 10:42
SDA
This means that the annual production was roughly equivalent to the household electricity consumption of the inhabitants of the cities of Zug, St. Gallen and Neuchâtel - i.e. over 150,000 people, as the press release from Tuesday explains. Overall, the Swiss Wind Energy Association (Suisse-Eole) described the past year as good, but not exceptional.
As with hydropower and solar energy, the production of wind energy is also dependent on the weather and location: In the Rhone and Rhine valleys, for example, it was mainly thermal winds, at the Gotthard or Gütsch above Andermatt UR, the Föhn wind ensured record production, while the wind turbines in the Jura benefited from both the Bise and the northerly winds. Two thirds of wind power production in Switzerland is generated in winter.
However, wind energy production is still only of marginal importance for the electricity supply in Switzerland. By comparison, 10% of electricity consumption in Switzerland was covered by solar power in 2024. According to Suisse-Eole, the share of wind energy amounted to 0.3 percent.
Switzerland also lagged far behind its neighboring countries and regions in terms of wind energy production. Last year, onshore wind energy accounted for over 26 percent of the electricity mix in Germany, 9 percent in France and 13 percent in Austria. In the German federal state of Saarland alone, 218 wind turbines were in operation - compared to 47 in Switzerland.
