Go-ahead for the Duragno Alpine Solar Park
The municipal council of Mezzovico-Vira has approved the Duragno Alpine Solar Park, part of the Suisse Solarexpress programme.
In support of the engineering project conceived by AFRY and IFEC and alongside ECOCONTROL, which was responsible for the environmental impact study, LAND Suisse developed an accompanying and landscape integration project for the new Duragno Alpine Solar Park. It is located next to the Swisscom antenna from the 1980s at the top of the Duragno Valley in the municipality of Mezzovico-Vira in Canton Ticino, on the southern slope at the foot of the Manèra, at an altitude of between 1700 and 1850 metres. Thanks to its Alpine location, the yield of a solar panel in winter is about four times higher than that of a panel located on the valley floor and twice as high over the entire year. Production in the winter months contributes to the security of the country’s energy supply. The Duragno Alpine Solar Park will produce an average of 44 MWh of electricity daily.
The new Duragno Solar Park. Render by LAND
The Mezzovico-Vira municipal council has given its approval for the Duragno Alpine Solar Park, a significant step in the implementation of the Solarexpress programme. This programme, backed by the Swiss federal government, aims to accelerate renewable energy production and ensure winter supply. The Duragno project is the first in Ticino to meet the stringent Solarexpress criteria. In its examination of the construction permit file, the council took note of the comprehensive environmental and landscape impact report prepared by LAND Suisse and ECOCONTROL. This report outlines detailed mitigation and compensation measures to counteract any adverse effects on the area. With only 1.5 hectares of the 8-hectare solar park covered, extensive compensation measures covering 15.4 hectares have been planned. The Solar Park, strategically located in the Duragno Valley, is designed to be shielded from view from the valley floor.
On the financial front, the project’s development will be handed over to a consortium consisting of S’Rock (the company that has promoted the project so far), AIL SA (the most important electricity distributor in Ticino), EBL of the canton of Basel-Landschaft (a cooperative society that has been active in the production and distribution of electricity for over 120 years), and other private investors from Ticino.
