Key facts: Switzerland
- Support scheme
- Sliding market premium (gleitende Marktprämie) under the revised Energy Act; direct marketing mandatory for larger plants in the feed-in scheme
- Balancing responsibility
- Bilanzgruppenverantwortlicher — SAMAWATT runs its own Swissgrid balance group
- Transmission system operator
- Swissgrid
- Exchanges
- EPEX SPOT Switzerland day-ahead and intraday
- Settlement interval
- 15 min
- Currency
- CHF
- Bidding zones
- CH (single zone, not in EU market coupling)
The Swiss power market for renewables
Switzerland sits at the centre of the European grid but outside the EU single market coupling, so Swiss prices are set in a separate EPEX SPOT auction and arbitrage against Germany, France, Italy and Austria is a daily trading task. Hydro, including pumped storage, dominates the generation mix, with solar growing fast.
The revised Energy Act that came into force in 2025 accelerates renewable build-out and opens new support routes for large PV, wind and hydro, while pushing more production into market-based marketing instead of fixed tariffs.
Sliding market premium, balance groups and Swissgrid rules
Larger plants in the federal feed-in scheme must sell their electricity themselves through direct marketing and receive a premium on top of the reference market price. New projects compete in auctions for a sliding market premium that tops up market revenue when prices fall below the bid level.
All production must belong to a balance group registered with Swissgrid, whose Bilanzgruppenverantwortlicher is liable for imbalance energy priced every 15 minutes. Swissgrid procures FCR, aFRR and mFRR, known locally as PRL, SRL and TRL, through regular tenders that batteries and flexible hydro can enter.
EPEX SPOT Switzerland, ancillary services and cross-border trading
Day-ahead prices are set in the EPEX SPOT CH auction, with continuous intraday trading afterwards. Because Switzerland is not part of the EU coupling, cross-border capacity is allocated explicitly and price spreads to neighbouring zones persist, which rewards a desk that trades both sides of the border.
Swissgrid ancillary services are the main stacking opportunity for batteries and pumped hydro, with weekly and daily tenders for primary, secondary and tertiary control reserve.
What SAMAWATT offers in Switzerland
Switzerland is SAMAWATT's home market and the one where we have traded longest. We run our own Swissgrid balance group, trade on EPEX SPOT CH, optimise pumped hydro and batteries across spot, intraday and ancillary services, and arbitrage against the German and French zones from one portfolio.
Swiss asset owners get direct marketing with full transparency on every trade, 15-minute settlement reconciled against Swissgrid data, and a trading desk in the same time zone and language.
- EPEX Day-Ahead (DAM)
- EPEX Intraday (IDM)
- Pumped hydro optimisation
- Ancillary stacking
- Cross-border arbitrage