Operations & Services Professional operation for safe and economical hydropower

Reliable operation 

Axpo ensures secure processes, clear responsibilities, and high plant availability – for stable and reliable power plant operation.

Using digital transparency 

We make information relating to operation, maintenance, and engineering easily accessible, up-to-date, understandable, and equally usable for everyone. This creates clarity about the condition of our plants and processes, enables faster decision-making, and allows improvements to be implemented in a targeted manner. This makes day-to-day operations more efficient and safer, strengthens operational readiness, and helps to avoid outages.

Organizing maintenance proactively 

Together, we create the basis for predictable, efficient, and economical maintenance throughout the entire life cycle. This reduces outages and ensures operational readiness. We plan maintenance specifically during suitable time slots, not during peak demand when production takes priority.

Our operation-oriented engineering covers the entire planning and construction process as well as operation – from strategic planning and implementation to management – and encompasses all service phases in accordance with SIA. 

With interdisciplinary expertise in construction and hydraulic engineering, steel hydraulic engineering, the environment, dams, geology, geomatics, BIM, and electrical and control engineering, we deliver comprehensive, multidisciplinary solutions from a single source. Thanks to consistent interface management, we ensure deadlines, costs, and quality, thus creating sustainable, efficient, and reliable hydropower plants, from maintenance and modernization to new construction. 

Focus on the environment and regulatory requirements

Axpo ensures that environmental requirements and regulatory specifications are in line with ongoing operations. We have the expertise required for the necessary investigations and environmental impact assessments, including residual water and replacement measures for new concessions and expansions of hydroelectric power plants, as well as for ongoing maintenance (such as flushing, draining, and dredging), and we are familiar with the environmental requirements in the various approval procedures. Our expertise and many years of experience make us a credible partner in our dealings with authorities and other stakeholders.  

Our asset management ensures transparency regarding the condition and performance of your hydropower plants and creates a reliable basis for decision-making. We combine condition analyses, risk assessments, and life cycle planning to create clearly prioritized action and investment plans. In this way, we increase availability and economic efficiency while reducing technical and financial risks.

Management and financial expertise from a single source

The Management & Finance business unit offers comprehensive management and financial expertise. It handles mandates for around 45 Swiss hydropower companies. The five-language team combines expertise in finance, controlling, law, and technology. As a central point of contact, it supports boards of directors and management in control, risk, and governance issues. The range of services extends from corporate and financial services to planning, auditing, and special projects.

The operation of hydroelectric power plants is based on temporary concessions. When a concession expires, the concession grantors have two options, to put it simply: they can either grant the previous concessionaire a new concession and, if they wish, increase their stake in the power plant in the process. Or they can exercise what is known as reversion and take over the power plant themselves, either entirely or with partners. If they opt for reversion, the rights of use for the water are transferred to the respective canton or municipalities. In this case too, existing operators such as Axpo can continue to play an important role as potential partners for cantons and municipalities. This is because the operation of a hydroelectric power plant involves various business risks and requires expertise in numerous areas. 

The water rent currently amounts to CHF 110 per kW of gross capacity and generates around CHF 550 million annually for the regions throughout Switzerland. It is calculated based on the water inflow to the power plants and thus represents a constant and easily predictable source of income – even in phases of low electricity prices.

Reversion, concessions, and water rates are complex issues that require careful clarification and reliable foundations. Axpo contributes its many years of operational experience, technical and legal knowledge, and clear processes so that owners and authorities can make well-informed decisions – and so that hydropower plants can continue to make an important contribution to security of supply in the future.