Technology

The actual non-AI article about the dam: https://www.axpo.com/ch/en/energy/generation-and-distribution/solar-power/alpinsolar.html

Here are some images of the dam sourced from Axpo encoded from 117MiB to 626 KiB (720p AVIF)

Images

Why the fuck would everyone say solar doesn't make sense up where it's cold and clear where anyone who knows anything about the topic knows that solar is most efficient?

I have a very serious issue with this!

What about the profits for coal companies! How are they supposed to make money! What if they go out of business!

WON'T SOMEBODY THINK ABOUT COAL INDUSTRY PROFITS!

Quite a dam advancement.

An example of some great dam thinking by a group of smart dam people.

Switzerland is one of the only countries where it makes any sense to do this kind of nonsense because they're already almost completely on renewable power. I shudder to think of how high the installation cost per watt is when you need rope access teams drilling into concrete. Some IRATA certified electrician probably bought a vacation home with the money from just this project.

'wow the panels are 50% more efficient during winter, and it only cost 1000% more to install compared to a conventional rooftop'

*Ok I checked, it cost about 3.6 CHF per nameplate watt. Roughly double residential rooftop solar in Switzerland, which itself is again about double what a ground mount array costs. So still bad, not nearly as bad as I thought. This also is only the original install cost. Apparently they've had to do significant repairs, including replacing 270 panels, because of snow and ice damage. From the bit of extra research I did on this I think the primary purpose of this install was to ease the path to getting more alpine solar installation approved. Because this definitely isn't economically viable and I don't think they expected it to be. But there is potential for economically viable alpine solar farms if they can get approval for development.

**By the way this article and the image for it are AI slop, the actual install is slightly less absurd than the article makes it look.

::: spoiler the actual dam The install generates 3x more power than an equivalent solar farm at lower altitude during the winter months, but costs 4x more to build. Doesn't really add up. For a smaller investment you could have the same amount of winter production and 3x as much production during the other 3/4 of the year.

Stupid question, never wondered how dams are constructed (and location chosen): Isn't there a risk of them being flooded, like in an emergency dump scenario?

I imagine they had to do a lot of calculations in order to be sure this installation would not compromise the dam. But if this could be applied in other locations, it could be extremely benificial.

That's a Dam good idea

someone bolted thousands of solar panels to a place almost no one thought was worth it.

"Someone"

2026 journalism

In the United States, this is called treason because it makes Donald Trump PP in his pants

...the assumption was simple, that solar belongs low and warm, on sunny roofs and flat fields, not up in the freezing thin air of the mountains.

Well that's a stupid assumption. what other kind of electronic works better when it's super hot??

The country makes plenty of power in summer, but runs short in winter, when demand climbs and it has to import electricity.

That gap is set to grow as the nation closes its nuclear plants.

Damn, two stupid ideas from the Swiss. At least the fabled "someone" put those solar panels up there. 🙄

Content farm “articles” are difficult to distinguish from AI.

It’s a good idea, if the dam faces a good direction (North probably isn’t worth it) even without the additional benefits of altitude.

I've thought for YEARS that we should to the same thing with the Hoover Dam. Should also mount wind turbines on the face of it to catch the updrafts out of the canyon. You all acting like green energy has to be mutually exclusive to one another. Wind turbine blades have a lot of surface area that could be covered in solar panels, which solves the issue of solar panels energy output decreasing with heat because then they'd always have built in cooling. No wind? There's still light and some wattage is better than no wattage. Put the turbine blade head on a giant hinge and they can catch rising air from the grounds' radiant heat at night. Free energy is everywhere if you just know where to look and how to take advantage of it.