A floating solar power plant is planned to be built on a high elevation mountain reservoir in Switzerland.

The solar power plant will be placed on the artificial lake of the Bourg-Saint-Pierre commune (Lac Des Toules), located at an altitude of 1810 m. It will consist of 2,240 sq. m. of solar panels, which will be placed on 36 rafts, fixed on the shores of the lake. The panels will raise and go down simultaneously with the water level changes in the reservoir.

Romande Energie will carry out the project. The demo version works are scheduled to start this summer. It is expected that this demo station will have a 750 MWh/year generation capacity, which will allow to meet the energy demand of 208 households.

Should the experimental phase of the project yield positive results, a full-scale construction will start in 2018 with the aim to commission the plant by Summer 2019.

The final area of final station will occupy 35% of the reservoir's surface and will produce 23 million kWh/year, thus providing electricity to 6,400 households.

The conducted research shows that the station on the mountain reservoir is capable of producing up to 50% more energy than the plant of the same size located on a flatland. This higher productivity is resultant of the sunrays reflected off the mountains’ snow cover.