The world’s first alpine floating solar park shares its findings

Three years after its inception, Romande Energie, the leading energy provider in Western Switzerland, has published the results of the world’s first alpine floating solar park, nestled on Lac des Toules, an alpine reservoir lake.

This first-of-its-kind alpine floating solar station commenced operations in December 2019, capping a nearly decade-long project led by the Romande Energie Group and supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The floating solar station, a prelude to a larger installation, features 2,240 square meters of bifacial solar panels spread across 35 floating structures. The preliminary goal was to verify the technical and financial feasibility of the project, which has endured the shifting lake levels and harsh climatic conditions typical of its high-altitude location. Despite these challenges, Romande Energie confirmed that the experimental solar park generally lived up to their expectations.

The pilot trials conducted between 2013 and 2019 suggested that the solar park could produce up to 50% more electricity than a similar facility at sea level. However, the actual output averaged at 1,400kWh per kWc installed, slightly less than the anticipated 1,800kWh. Romande Energie attributed this discrepancy to factors such as the focus on winter production, close and distant shading due to the project’s southern location and proximity to other panels, and the yearly snowfall and drifts, which caused several days of unavailability and even damage to some photovoltaic panels.

Despite the encountered challenges, the project’s future appears bright, with plans underway to extend the solar park. Lessons learned from the demonstration phase will inform the development of a larger, more efficient installation that will mitigate the issues identified with the demonstrator. “We believe in the large-scale project and even plan to develop alpine solar energy on other artificial lakes in Switzerland,” explained Guillaume Fuchs, co-director of the Energy Solutions Business Unit at Romande Energie.

Such solar parks hint at a possible solution to Switzerland’s energy independence, especially during winter months. With continued technological advancements and an adaptive approach to local environmental conditions, these installations could represent a significant stride toward harnessing the potential of solar energy in alpine regions.