Solar Energy

Waerme für Österreich – Kühlung für die heißesten Gebiete der Welt

Pioneer services from Austria

Austria was the pioneer of the first hour in the field of solar thermal energy. As early as 1978 the most modern and largest collector production in Europe was founded in Austria. International expertise in the field of solar cooling has been used in reference projects such as the world's first solar cooling in wine production.

By the end of 2015, 5.2 million square meters of solar thermal collectors were in operation in Austria, corresponding to an installed output of 3.7 GWth. The useful heat yield of these plants was 2,129 GWhth. This means that 459,242 tonnes of CO2 emissions were avoided.

In 2015, 137,740 m2 of thermal solar collectors were installed, corresponding to a capacity of 96.4 MWth. Compared to the year 2014, the solar thermal market in Austria declined by 11%. As in the previous years, the share of thermal collectors' exports was around 82%. The turnover of the solar heating sector was estimated at 228 million euros for the year 2015, the number of full-time jobs can be estimated at approx. 2,100.

With growing research expenditures in recent years in the field of solar thermal energy

research and development in Austrian R & D facilities and companies could be intensified and new fields of application for solar thermal energy were developed:

Combinations for heating and water heating in the family homes
Large combinations for heating support in storey apartments
Solar local and district heating (large installations with several megawatts of thermal power)
Solar heat for commercial and industrial applications
Installations for solar cooling and air conditioning

Sources and addtional information:

Faninger Gerhard: Marktentwicklung und Zukunftsperspektiven der Solarthermie in Österreich, http://www.aee-intec.at/0uploads/dateien920.pdf
WU Wien, Deloitte, Wien Energie: Studie Erneuerbare Energien in Österreich 2015