Swiss section of Great St. Bernard tunnel to get 1,000 solar panels

The company that runs the Great St. Bernard tunnel has decided to expand its use of renewable energy. It is set to install 7,000 square metres of solar panels. These are currently being installed on the approach road leading to the tunnel, on the Swiss side.

A thousand panels, tilted at 60 degrees, will be gradually installed between late 2026 and 2027. Some 3,000 square metres will be operational by the end of this year, with the remainder (4,000 square metres) to be ready over the course of next year. A trial phase took place between 2022 and 2025. In total, the system will generate 450 MWh per year, equivalent to half the tunnel’s energy requirements.

‘A winter supplement’

“We have a large flat roof area,” Baptiste Cavin, maintenance and projects engineer at Tunnel du Grand-St-Bernard SA, told news agency Keystone-SDA. “This solar farm will provide a welcome winter supplement to our current generation. The electricity requirements (lighting, electromechanical systems, ventilation) of our facilities are, in fact, considerable.”

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The company already generates renewable electricity via a hydroelectric power station located inside the tunnel, powered by a small dam built on the Great St. Bernard Pass road.

A region renowned for its sunshine

The total cost of the works is around CHF2 million ($2.4 million). These are being carried out by the company’s own staff. The project is therefore fully carried out by the company and has no connection with utility company Romande Energie’s floating solar park in the Alps, at Lac des Toules, which is not far from the future installation, situated at an altitude of 1,900 metres.

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The region is considered suitable for the installation of solar panels, given the high cumulative sunshine levels recorded in the elevated parts of the municipality of Bourg-St-Pierre over many years.

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Translated from French/reviewed by an English Department journalist.