On Friday June 23, the ENERGY team from GESTE Engineering Renens went on an outing.

On the program for this sunny day was a visit to the SBB CFF FFS converter station in Chiètres (Kerzers): a highly instructive visit, fully in line with the issue of energy supply for Swiss public transport.

Chiètres is a strategic location in Switzerland for traction power. Its converter station links the French-speaking and German-speaking parts of Switzerland. Since 1974, two groups of rotating machines have been supplying a total output of 70 megawatts.

The frequency converter supplies the rail network with 16.7 hertz alternating current. When there's a lot of water in the SBB's hydroelectric power stations, the machines can also produce energy "the other way around": the surplus traction current is then converted into 50-hertz current (domestic current) to supply the public grid via the Swissgrid AG network.

After this highly instructive visit, it was time for a change of scenery, heading for the mountains near the Bernese Jura. On the menu: grilled meats, convivial moments, and a walk through bucolic pastures.

2023