Birr reserve power plant is not connected to the grid until the end of June
Published: Thursday, May 16th 2024, 10:50
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The Confederation's reserve power plant in Birr AG has not been connected to the electricity grid since mid-February. In the event of a power shortage, it would therefore not have been able to supply any electricity. The reserve power plant is expected to remain disconnected from the grid until the end of June.
On Thursday, the Swiss grid company Swissgrid confirmed a corresponding report by the "Aargauer Zeitung" and other publications of CH-Media-Verlag on the same day.
Swissgrid also announced that the situation is partly due to a cable fire in mid-February at an electricity distribution substation in Birr AG. After the fire, Swissgrid wrote that the 220-kilovolt line from the substation to the reserve power plant in Birr would be restored "as quickly as possible" after the fire.
On the other hand, after analyzing the situation together with the authorities, Swissgrid decided not to carry out this repair immediately. The decision was made to replace the 30-year-old cable including cable terminations on both sides. The decision was made because the electricity supply in Switzerland was not at risk at the time, according to a statement from the electricity grid company.
In the event of a critical supply situation, Swissgrid would have repaired the defective cable termination in the Birr substation as quickly as possible, the company continues. "This repair work could have been carried out within a few weeks".
Since March 2023, the Birr reserve power plant has been ready for operation in the event of a power shortage. Eight gas turbines would supply electricity on a site owned by GE Gas Power. The federal government signed the contract for the plant with a capacity of up to 250 megawatts with GE Gas Power in September 2022.
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