ZURICH, July 20 (Reuters) - Swiss energy supplies are safe for now but power shortages may loom in winter due to the war in Ukraine, possible interruptions in gas supplies in Europe, and the situation at nuclear power plants in France, the government said on Wednesday.
On the electricity side, Swiss hydropower reservoirs were now filled at the long-term average. "However, inflows are likely to be lower due to the glacier melt, which started earlier than usual this year, and the hot spell," government experts said in a statement ahead of a news conference.
The Swiss transmission grid was available as planned and import capacities were high. Swiss nuclear power plants were running normally although the Beznau plant had reduced output at times due to the intense heat.
Of a total 3,000 megawatts (MW) of nuclear power plant capacity, between 2,700 and 2,950 MW were connected to the grid. In the medium term, additional safety checks at French nuclear power plants meant uncertainty about their availability.
For gas, the experts were watching supplies from Russia after scheduled maintenance work on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline until July 21.
"The extent to which gas will flow again afterwards depends less on technical decisions than on political decisions by Russia," they added.
"The maintenance work mainly affects the filling of storage facilities in Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Austria. Gas flows to Switzerland are normal. In the event of a possible Russian gas supply stop, large electricity companies could run into liquidity problems." (Reporting by Michael Shields, editing by Silke Koltrowitz)