Purpose: If the Swiss political environment is generally rather favourable to the production of considerably more renewable energy (RE), the implementation of concrete projects by energy companies is influenced by various internal and external constraints. This chapter aims to describe, illustrate and analyse strategies and the nature of constraints, as well as their impact on the energy transition from energy enterprises’ perspective.
Need for the study: The Swiss landscape of energy enterprises is highly diversified. Yet, it is unclear to what extent this diversity has an impact on the companies’ strategies and constraints regarding the production of RE and, thereby, on green growth within Switzerland.
Methodology: This study is based on a mixed method consisting of qualitative interviews with CEOs from six Swiss energy enterprises and two experts as well as quantitative data generated on the basis of annual reports of most Swiss energy-producing enterprises (n = 105).
Findings: To varying extents, all company strategies seek to develop RE. The number of RE types produced or envisaged by public companies is generally higher than for private companies. Companies are influenced by external factors, such as legal opposition, regulations and customer and citizen behaviour, as well as internal factors, such as risk management capacities, human resources availability and innovation capacity.
Practical implications: Each energy enterprise must choose its RE projects by considering its specific external and internal constraints in order to maximise its benefits and contribution to the national energy transition strategy.
Practical implications: Each energy enterprise must choose its RE projects by considering its specific external and internal constraints in order to maximise its benefits and contribution to the national energy transition strategy.
