FLOATING SOLAR PANEL UP IN SWITZERLAND

The small village of Bourg Saint Pierre in Switzerland is home to 200 souls. It's quiet, picturesque and relaxing.

Visitors to the village know it for its fabulous walks, winter ski resort and its high-altitude floating solar farm, according to a special Euronews report on Green Initiatives.

It's true that most people don't choose their holiday destinations for the best views of solar panels, but the high-altitude floating solar farm in Bourg Saint Pierre is turning heads and is one of a kind. People are making a detour to check out this project, which is the first high-altitude floating solar farm in the world.

How it works

The farm was put in place in 2019 by Romande Energie, one of Switzerland's main energy companies.

The incredible structure sits at 1810 meters above sea level, floating on a man-made reservoir called Lac des Toules.

It is made up of 2240 square meters of solar panels, arranged in five rows of eight. Its panels are able to produce 50% more energy than panels on low-lying land. The reason for this is that mountainous conditions make solar radiation stronger.

Maxime Ramstein, Project Manager for Romande Energie, tells us that it's in an ideal location because in the mountains there are "lower temperatures which mean better efficiency and the albedo effect, which is the solar radiation, which is very high on the ground, on the ice, and on the snow".

All in all, this pilot project produces 800 000 kWh per year, the equivalent of 220 household energy needs.

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