Austria

    General Info
    • Population (million)
      8.9
    • Land Area (sq km)
      83879
    • GDP (million USD)
      477
    Power Generation Capacity by Fuel Type
    • Renewable Energy (%)
      32.8
    • Fossil Fuels (%)
      67.2
    Wind Energy Statistics
    • Installed Capacity (MW)
      3300
    • Small Wind Capacity (kW)
      1500
    • Share of Wind - electricity generation (%)
      11
    Policy & Regulations Overview

    Austria's support system is currently based on FiT. For wind turbines, the additional annual support volume due to wind power and the remaining pot will be brought forward for 2021 and made available for the contracts to be concluded in 2020. No special funds are therefore made available. The feed-in tariff is 8.12 ct. Thanks to the amendment to the Green Electricity Act, the queue for wind turbines that goes back to 2016 can now be reduced. Around 200 fully approved wind power plants with a capacity of 600 megawatts can now be supplied with subsidy contracts. However, there will be significant cuts in the amount of the feed-in tariffs, because these are generally 8.12 ct (this means discounts of up to 10 percent). As a result, many operators will be forced to reschedule their projects in order to ensure that the wind farms operate economically. The 200 wind turbines will be built over the next four years and will then be able to supply 400,000 households with clean electricity, which corresponds to around two percent of domestic electricity consumption. It is to be regretted that, unlike biomass or photovoltaics, no special funds are made available for the reduction of the queue, but instead the funding provided for in 2021 in the Green Electricity Act is brought forward to 2020. (For further infos please contact)

    Wind Resources Overview

    The governmental object is to increase wind power capacity to around 7500 MW until 2030 with ca. 22.5 TWh per year. Currently wind power is located mostly in the east and south of Austria. However potential is seen in nearly all parts also in the West of Austria especially in Alpine Regions. There is actually an official public windatlas / map (https://www.windatlas.at) but it is not updated.

    Wind Industry Overview

    The historical market development of wind power in Austria is shown in Figure 12. Since 2018, the total installed capacity has exceeded 3.000 MW for the first time in the history of Austrian wind power. This marks an important milestone in the expansion of renewable energy, especially wind power. In Austria, 71 wind turbines with a total capacity of 230 MWel were newly built. Of the total of 71 plants, 41 plants with 132.8 MWel were located in Lower Austria, 10 plants with 33.2 MWel in Styria, 20 plants with 64.1 MWel in Burgenland. At the end of the year, 1.313 wind turbines with a nominal output of 3.045 MWel were connected to the grid. This capacity allows an annual electricity production of 7 TWh, which corresponds to about 11 % of Austrian electricity consumption. Compared with the stock at the end of 2017, the power generation potential from wind power increased by 7 %. In terms of technology, the power class of the 3 MWel wind turbines with an average rotor diameter of 114 meters also dominated in 2018. The Austrian operators were able to generate 514 million Euros of revenue in 2018 through the sale of wind power. The investments of almost € 380 million made by these companies triggered a domestic added value of around € 108 million. The operation of the plants over the next 20 years will add further 250 million Euros to domestic added value. The turnover of the Austrian supplier industry in 2018 was around 400 million Euros and the total turnover of the wind power sector amounted to 915 million Euros. At the end of 2018 4,067 people were employed in the Austrian wind industry. Around 3,170 in the areas of construction, dismantling and maintenance, of which 468 for operators of wind turbines. Approximately 897 employees were reported, working in the supplying industry. (source - https://www.igwindkraft.at/mmedia/download/2019.06.18/1560865542210357.pdf)

    Author

    Bernhard Fuernsinn

    Company/Organization

    IG windkraft