The construction appeals court of the canton of Zurich has ruled against the energy business Axpo. Residents’ appeal against the Axpo-planned hydrogen production facility in Glattfelden was successful.
As was said on Monday, the project must now end immediately.
According to the data, the Eglisau-Glattfelden hydropower plant’s 2.5 megawatt hydrogen production facility should have produced about 350 tons of green hydrogen annually. This would have prevented the use of almost 1.5 million liters of diesel in heavy goods traffic, according to Axpo.
Despite the project’s suspension, Axpo is continuing with its aspirations to expand in the green hydrogen sector and wants to carry out further projects in Switzerland.
The proposed facility would have required the replacement of an existing Rhine power station building, which is outside the present development area. In light of this, Axpo asked for and received a special authorization from the government to build the facility.
However, the building appeals court of the Canton of Zurich sided with three private citizens who were against the power plant’s development.
The court prioritized “enforcing the basic concept of separation” over the public interest in generating electricity.
Axpo claimed that other additional places had been investigated, but the court found these checks to be inadequately thorough.
According to the statement, decarbonization will be hampered by the decision to read the legislation strictly, especially in the case of an environmentally friendly plant that complies with the Energy Strategy 2050.
