But goats be pissed.

I’ll be Dam, that’s clever

"We went to bed one night, and when we woke the next morning, they were there! Someone must have bolted them on."

You'll never believe who!!

Alright yeah okay, it was me

Good shout.

Here is an older article on the start of construction from a publicly funded news organization:

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/sci-tech/switzerland-builds-biggest-alpine-solar-plant/46883572

Here is the article from when it was done (September 2022!), but this one isn't available in English I'm afraid:

https://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/groesste-alpine-solaranlage-der-schweiz-hat-volle-leistung-erreicht/47868356

As a primary source, here's the project page of one of the involved companies:

https://www.axpo.com/ch/en/energy/generation-and-distribution/solar-power/alpinsolar.html

Edit: Corrected the first link. Had too many tabs open and posted this one by accident: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/archive-alpine-environment/construction-starts-on-first-large-scale-solar-park-in-swiss-alps/87531886

It's pretty rare to find a river that runs north, though.

usually snow slides off solar panels fairly easily since they are smooth, tilted, and absorb heat.

Maybe search for highest-altitude reservoirs instead of dams?

I would imagine that you could set up some sort of insulated battery and/or capacitor setup that could be used to melt off any accumulated snow and ice once a storm passes with some heating elements embedded in the photovoltaics. Though, that probably introduces the issue of falling frozen debris striking panels lower down on the dam. Nonetheless, given the efficiency gains, it’s probably a problem worth solving - especially since this Swiss proof-of-concept seems to be working out so well.

It doesn't really answer your question, but this article calls the Muttsee the highest reservoir in Europe, at least that's something.

https://www.waterpowermagazine.com/news/muttsee-dam-solar-plant-to-provide-balancing-energy-for-swissgrid/

There was a lot of news about the Muttsee Dam solar project a few years ago, so it's a real thing and a good thing. But it's hardly current news. It's been operational since 2022.

They're going to cool off the sun if they aren't careful. /s

I seriously used to work with a guy who thought wind turbines might have negative impact on the environment because it was "taking the wind".

Honestly, I think it wouldn't be a problem in any dam. I'm sure they made all the required studies but dams are so thick and made to withstand such great forces that a couple of solar panels bolted on would be negligible. I bet 10cm of water rise would be a way bigger load

Only a little bit of poop*, once in a while... okay! 😤😡

This thread is now about 'Murica

Lies!

Donald's adult diapers stop his PP from reaching his pants.

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.

That is a stupid idea. Blade weight is one of the biggest engineering issues for wind turbines.

You all acting like green energy has to be mutually exclusive to one another.

I certainly don't. But I agree, there's a lot of ideas that die on the cutting room floor because they don't pander to a specific lobbying interest.

Maybe it's no big deal, but I imagine there's a significant complication of the blades to do that. They're basically wings, and (again, I'd imagine) are structurally sensitive.

Agree with your general point of mix and match and combine

Yeah, the fears about nucular are global I'm afraid. The Swiss decided 40 years ago that they would no longer invest in nuclear energy and massively reduce upkeep on the existing reactors, thereby making issues a self fulfilling prophecy. Most of the reactors have now reached their end of life, if not ten years ago. So turning them off is really a necessity, but building new ones now would be stupid.

Nuclear plants have a limited life time. You have to replace what ages out, and they haven't been. Probably because they decided that the cost didn't make sense anymore in the face of renewables.

You should buy a home next to a nuclear power plant.

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

- Upton Sinclair

- Michael Scott