The Swiss government
considers energy efficiency in buildings and industries as a promising area for
bilateral cooperation between Greek and Swiss companies. Walter Steinmann, the
Managing Director of the Swiss Federal Office of Energy and State Secretary of
Energy, spoke recently to Energia.gr about the various areas of interest, which
also include the TAP pipeline and energy to waste technologies.
Dr. Steinmann said
that Switzerland
has considerable know-how in energy efficiency in buildings and would like to
share it with Greece
through technical agreements in the field of licensing and qualifications.
There are also many ways that Greece
could benefit from cooperating with Switzerland in the reduction of
energy usage in industries and also in the processing and use of waste for
energy production.
Renewable Energy
Sources, and more particularly solar energy appears at the forefront of research efforts by universities and polytechnics but also by industry.
Electricity utilities from Zurich,Bern
and Bassel are in the process of implementing a $200 million investment in SCS technology
application in Spain for power
generation from solar energy. In addition to the income to be generated from such an investment Swiss
companies are gaining direct
experience in the handling of Green Certificates which apparently are gaining popularity as a means of combating Climate Change and satisfying environmental
requirements.
Another area of
interest by Swiss companies is in hydro power generation, especially since 60% of Switzerland’s electricity requirements are met from hydro plants. Switzerland also has accumulated considerable
experience in natural gas
transmission since several major interstate gas pipelines are transcending the country with the result that the amount of transited gas volume on a yearly
basis is six (6) times larger than
the country’s own consumption. However, gas only covers 12% of the country’s primary energy requirements.
The Swiss minister
also mentioned how in his country there is a carbon tax since 2000, which
applies to all fossil fuels except those used in transportation and provides
about 200 mil. francs each year to be used in the upgrading of buildings.
Similar ways could be explored to fund those programs in Greece as well.
Concerning the TAP
pipeline, Dr. Steinmann had a meeting last week with the Greek ministry of
Energy. He told us that the Greek government changed its position drastically
in the last six months, going from cold to warm when it comes to TAP and is now
actively pushing for the realization of the project, which aims to carry
natural gas from Sah Deniz in Azerbaijan
to Europe via Greece.