Perched high in the Glarus Alps, some 2,500 metres above sea level, a massive wall of solar panels is setting a standard for renewable energy. This is “AlpinSolar,” a pioneering project that has seen nearly 5,000 solar panels bolted directly onto the wall of the Muttsee dam, the highest altitude dam in Europe. While critics once argued that placing solar farms in such a freezing, harsh environment made no sense, the plant has silenced these people by producing three times more electricity during the winter months than the other facilities down in the Swiss valleys. This wall of glass and steel produces 3.3 million kilowatt hours of energy annually, enough to power roughly 740 households and serves as a vital blueprint for Switzerland's energy future. What AlpinSolar really proves is that harsh conditions aren't obstacles to clean energy but hidden advantages, waiting for engineers willing to look upward instead of down.
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