Reliable and economic integration of the Swiss Federal Railway to the energy strategy

Objective of this project is to identify ways for the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) to contribute to the Swiss energy strategy while, in parallel, ensuring that SBB will be able to serve its demand in an economic and reliable manner. Specific focus will be given to the risks stemming from the so-called “winter gap”, i.e., the anticipated potential lack of energy adequacy during the winter period in future energy systems dominated by variable renewable sources. A set of technology options that SBB can pursue will be investigated in a “sector coupled” approach, thus allowing to appropriately consider the synergies among energy carriers (electricity, hydrogen, synthetic fuels) and energy demand sectors (e.g., electricity demand of SBB and heat demand of a city). Methodology-wise, the performed research will be based on the identification of a set of potential future basic and risk scenarios and on the formulation and solution of optimization problems. Even though the emphasis of the project lies on the options that SBB can pursue, the modeling will consider evolution scenarios of Switzerland as well as of the entire Europe, thus appropriately capturing the temporal and spatial correlations and associated risks. The risk analysis will identify scenarios (e.g., a drought year, or a prolonged period of reduced wind and solar availability) which might particularly stress the ability of SBB to satisfy its demand. The formulated optimization problems will model technology limitations such as potential, time-to-build, various costs and risks. SBB will be closely engaged in the project, by providing data and participating in technical discussions and workshops. The outcome of this project will make up a very valuable input to SBB, to be utilized in devising its mid/long-term energy strategy and in setting up follow-up projects and pilots.