Swiss start solar energy exchange for home users
© 2000 Reuters Limited
March 31, 2000
ZURICH - A Swiss group has started a solar energy exchange for domestic retail customers and has plans to start two more, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
A bank of solar panels on top of a school in Nidau is able to produce 45,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per year and people in the village can buy the power on the exchange. The price of solar power is around one franc per kWh compared to a price for conventional power of 0.20/0.25 francs. Retail customers prepared to pay the higher price for environmental reasons do so over and above their normal electricity bill and the Nidau utility takes the power from the solar energy collector.
The spokeswoman said there were plans to start a similar project in Basel and, later, a bigger project in the Swiss capital of Berne.