Swiss Celebrate Solar Power With New Coin

Continuing a three-part “Energy of the future” series, Switzerland’s Federal Mint is to issue a coin showcasing solar energy this week.

Last year Swissmint kicked off a series of special coins to promote renewable energy. The first coin featured hydropower, which is currently the dominant renewables technology in Switzerland.

This year’s 20-franc (around AUD $30) solar energy coin is a silver coin with colour and fluorescent elements.

One side of the coin depicts the rising sun and has the wording “SONNE” (sun) and “ENERGIE” (energy) in capital letters, along with the French and Italian words for sun – “soleil” and “sole”.  This side of the coin also glows in the dark. The other side features the sun and a solar panel. The edge of the coin has stars and the inscription “Dominus Providebit” (Latin for “The Lord will provide”.)

“With its ‘Energy of the future’ series, Swissmint wants to draw attention to the issues of climate change and renewable energies, which are important to us all,” says a Swissmint statement.

But Swiss folks hoping to score one of these coins among their change in the future will be disappointed. Only 10,000 coins are to be minted as collector’s items. The price tag is substantially higher than the coin’s face value at 75 Swiss francs – approximately AUD $113. The coins go on sale on July 21 and will be available from Swissmint’s online store, some coin dealers and local banks.

Solar Power In Switzerland

Solar energy is still a bit-player on Switzerland’s electricity generation scene, but uptake is growing. According to a recent report from the Swiss Solar Energy Professionals Association (Swissolar), the number of new PV installations in the country rose by 43 percent in 2021 compared to 2020 – a new record of 683 megawatts capacity.

Total installed PV capacity at the end of 2021 reached 3,655 MW.

“The annual production was 2842 gigawatt hours (GWh), which roughly corresponds to the annual consumption of 900,000 four-person households,” states the organisation (translated). ” The share of solar power production in electricity consumption in Switzerland was 4.89% in 2021 (2020: 4.7%) and is now just under 6%.”

In 2022, Swissolar expects around 850-900 MW of PV capacity to be installed.

The organisation wants to see solar power generating 45 terawatt-hours ( TWh) annually by 2050 – almost half of the projected electricity consumption in Switzerland at that time. For this to happen, around 40 percent of existing roof area in the country would need solar panels installed.

In 2017, Swiss citizens endorsed Energy Strategy 2050, which will see nuclear power in the country phased out while renewable capacity will be massively boosted. As part of that plan, the Mühleberg Nuclear Power Plant was permanently deactivated in December 2019.

Trivia: The cost of a fully installed 5kW solar power system in Switzerland from one provider I checked out was around CHF 11,000 after subsidies – approximately AUD $16,500. In Australia, a good quality 5kW solar system costs between $4,500 – $8,000, fully installed.

With our abundant sunshine and among the lowest solar system pricing in the world, Australia is definitely the lucky country when it comes to solar power.