Operators of large hydropower plants in Switzerland received major encouragement this summer with the approval of draft legislation by the Committee for the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy (CESPE) of the Swiss National Council, the lower house of the country's Federal Assembly, supporting the subsidization of large hydropower. The draft legislation, which was approved on 25 August, is to provide subsidies totalling CHF 600 million (US$ 643.5 million), which, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) should make it possible to cover about 40 per cent of the cost of building or upgrading 13 shortlisted facilities. Pumped-storage stations will not be eligible, as these are believed to be less affected by the difficult market situation and, according to an SFOE study, will be profitable again by 2020. The sum would be raised from the country's renewable energy promotion fund, which, from 2015, will benefit from a surcharge increase from CHF 0.006/kWh (US￠ 6.34) to CHF 0.011/kWh (about US￠ 11.6).
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