In the wake of the war in Ukraine, soaring energy prices in Europe, and increasing demands for electricity in the process of decarbonisation for production, heating and transportation, the main-stream focus of the political debate in Switzerland has been on further enhancing self-reliance and independence in electricity. The emphasis is on increasing hydropower and solar energy while reducing the need for imports of electrical energy, mainly in winter time when the Swiss annually have depended upon annual imports in the magnitude of approximately 30 -35 GW/h per day in recent years.

In Swiss politics, imports of electricity are considered a necessary evil by main-stream thinking. It amounts to a mercantilist attitude, otherwise, and except in agriculture, strange to a country highly dependent upon open markets abroad for exported goods and services. Few think in terms of an overall continental system, the comparative advantage of large maritime wind parks in the North, and of solar plants in the south, all linked up by high-performing and fast High-Voltage-Direct-Current (HVDC) lines. Few take into account that the EU and four North Sea countries plan for impressive wind parks in the North Sea, contributing 150 GW by 2050 to the European Grid, five times Europe’s and three times the world’s current total amount produced (The Economist, January 7th, 2023, at 47). And few in Switzerland think about the specific contributions and the comparative advantage of enhanced alpine energy production throughout the year within an overall European system. Many entertain the ideal of self-reliance in electricity, without considering the costs of it for consumers and the competitiveness of the economy. However, the systems are inherently intertwined. (“In electricity, Switzerland and the EU are forced partners” titled the NZZ (23.12.2021 p. 17). And Antony Patt, a leading climate scientist at ETH Zurich put it, stressing the need for partnership with the EU: “Autarky in energy is not a good idea” (Der Bund, April 5, 2022 p. 27).