With the current developments in energy policy and climate change, there is an urgent need to increase both electricity production and storage capacities from renewables in Switzerland. The ongoing glacier retreat offers opportunities for new storage lakes and corresponding new hydropower schemes in the Alps (Figure 1). The hydropower potential of such new reservoirs in locations which are expected to become ice-free has been systematically examined in a recent research project in the scope of the National Research Programme 70 of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Weiterlesen