Laax Says Yes To A High-alpine Solar System At The Vorab Mountain Station
Laax says yes to a high-alpine solar system at the Vorab mountain station
In cooperation with the municipality of Laax, the Weisse Arena Group and Flims Electric, Repower is planning to build a high-alpine solar system at the Vorab mountain station. The municipal assembly of Laax approved the project yesterday.
The high-alpine solar system will be built to the east of the glacier tongue near the Vorab mountain station. Around 20,000 modules are planned on an area of around 150,000 square meters. With a production capacity of around 7.5 MW per year, these deliver almost 12 GWh, which corresponds to the annual consumption of more than 2,200 households.
The voters of Laax approved the high-alpine solar project in advance at the municipal assembly on June 13th. The next step is the installation of a test system in autumn 2023. In this way, the project team wants to ensure that the technology used can withstand the harsh conditions on the Vorab at almost 2,600 meters above sea level and generate the calculated energy yield, especially in the winter months.
The solar system is planned in advance in an area that is already used for tourism. An environmental impact assessment is currently being carried out. The landowner of the site is the political municipality of Laax. The Grisons energy supplier Repower and the Weisse Arena Group will be the owners of the alpine solar system, with Flims Electric planned as the project developer.
Local solar energy for mountain railway
As the owner of the mountain railways, the Weisse Arena Group will be an important buyer of domestic solar energy. The Vorab solar system brings the Weisse Arena Gruppe one step closer to its vision of making the Flims Laax Falera destination the first self-sufficient Alpine destination that covers 100 percent of its energy needs from climate-friendly, regional sources.
In the autumn session of 2022, the federal parliament created the conditions for the rapid expansion of ground-mounted PV systems with high winter production with the "urgent federal law on the short-term provision of a secure power supply in winter".
