Between Damming and Protecting
2022-ongoing
As the glaciers melt in rapid speed due global heating, new landscapes emerge: Glacier forelands, floodplains, and small lakes, that have been buried under ice for thousands of years. The energy industry sees already new potential for big hydropower projects in these areas to generate more electricity. For all living beings, this would be a major loss. Newly exposed glacier areas are vital habitats for rare plants and animals and serve as essential recreational spaces for humans.
As a largely emissions-free energy source, hydropower forms the backbone of Switzerland's sustainable electricity supply. There are already over 1,000 hydropower plants in the country, leading conservation organizations to claim that the environmentally sustainable potential has been almost completely exhausted. Further expansion of hydropower facilities at previously unused sites would destroy Switzerland's last natural flowing waters and cause significant environmental harm.
The Swiss government is now planning to develop new hydropower projects in the Alps, targeting areas that were once considered protected wilderness. Over the past two years, I have documented the regions in the Swiss Alps where these controversial dam projects are being discussed, including the Gorner and Trift glaciers and the Grimsel reservoir, where vast glacier forelands would be flooded.
Through my work, I explore the question: What holds more value — the practical benefits of renewable energy production or the protection of these irreplaceable landscapes?
At the headquarters in Innertkirchen, the specified electricity timetable for the day is observed and interventions are made if the electricity grid has to be balanced with hydroelectric power. Each turbine 13 km further up in the Handeck power plant can be controlled at the push of a button.
The melting Trift glacier has formed a lake. Plans exist to store the meltwater here with a new 177 meter high dam, to generate additional winter electricity.
The water shoots at a pressure of 40 bar onto the impeller, which weighs just under a ton. The centerpiece, which cost 850,000 francs, is a replacement in the Handeck 2E power plant.
The gorge below the Gorner Glacier. The 85 meter high wall is supposed to be built between these rocks.
Power lines lead through an underground passage in the Handeck power station below Lake Grimsel.
Raising the wall by 23 meters would flood the glacier foreland of the Unteraar Glacier, an area designated as a nationally protected zone. This area harbors a range of sensitive ecosystems, including moorland biotopes, alluvial plains, and floodplain waters.