Swiss Review / February 2022 / No.1 9 without crossing the environmental red line? “Essentially, yes,” says Rolf Weingartner, professor emeritus of hydrology at the University of Berne. Weingartner has broken down the problem into its constituent parts and put them back together again in order to lend objectivity to an emotive subject. A new role for hydropower? Given that hydropower is virtually CO2-neutral, it continues to play an indispensable role in preventing power shortages, particularly inwinterwhen solar power plants are less productive. Global warming is also making us re-evaluate the importance of reservoirs, he explains, because the contribution ofmeltwater to run-off, mainly in the summer months, will decrease as glaciers recede. Summer water shortages will be the consequence. In future, overall water run-off will remain more or less at current annual levels. But the seasonal distribution of run-off is becoming less favourable, because both glacier melt and snowmelt are diminishing. “This means we must replace natural Alpine water sources with artificial ones,” says Weingartner. In other words, existing hydropower reservoirs can also help to deliver a sustainable approach to water management in the climate change era by providing a source of water in the hot, dry summer months for things like farm irrigation. Meanwhile, large-scale photovoltaic plants are nowbeing installed on the walls of dams. The solar panels at Muttsee in the canton of Glarus, for example, will produce electricity all year round because they are at high altitude above the low clouds. Consequently, hydropower has more than one role to play. “Hydropower should not only serve the purpose of generating energy but also help to provide a sustainable answer to water supply issues. This includes the environmentally responsible use of residual water,” says Weingartner, adding that the practice of pitting environmental and economic interests against each other every time there is a new dam project in the pipeline is unhelpful. Weingartner therefore favours a new, holistic approach, not least because glacial melt due to climate changewill result in over 1,000 new Alpine lakes that could potentially be used as resources. “We should take it upon ourselves to identify priority areas,” he says. The federal government should divide the Swiss Alps into different zones according to priority: energy production, environmental protection, tourism, or agriculture. This would ensure a physical separation of interests and quell controversies. Weingartner knows that his hydro peacekeeping vision could be difficult to sustain amid the rough and tumble of Swiss realpolitik. Initially, at least. But as long as its energy consumption continues to rise, Switzerland will have to change tack sooner or later. The Greina plateau situated between Grisons and Ticino was a turning point on the Swiss hydropower map. Conservationists prevented it from being flooded into a reservoir, scuttling a power plant project in 1986. Photo: Keystone
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