Wind Power

Successful on the world market

The wind energy sector is not only a significant economic factor in the Austrian environmental technology sector, but also supplies clean and environmentally friendly electricity for more than 1.5 million households, which is 40 percent of all Austrian households. Starting from 0.3 megawatts of installed capacity in 1994, the wind power output in Austria grew to almost 2,409 MW_el by 2015.

At the end of 2015 1,119 wind turbines with a total output of 2,408.6 megawatts generated clean and environmentally friendly electricity in Austria. With this capacities, 3.4 million tonnes of CO2 can be avoided annually. A single plant of these modern 3 MW wind power plants save as much CO2 as 2,000 cars in total. By selling wind power in 2014, the Austrian operators make around 300 million euros in revenues. The investments made by these companies of more than EUR 678 million resulted in domestic value added of more than EUR 193 million.

In 2016, the new expansion phase of wind power will continue, with some 70 wind turbines with more than 240 megawatts of power being added. The Austrian wind energy sector will invest around 400 million euros in just one year and provide a sustainable impetus for a clean energy future.

In total, 2.2 billion euros have been invested in wind power expansion over the last four years. As much as in hardly any other industrial sector. The Austrian wind energy sector has thus invested around € 550 million annually on average and has given a lasting boost to a clean energy future.

Austria currently consumes around 62 TWh (1 TWh = 1 billion kilowatt hours) of electricity per year. By the end of 2015 wind turbines had a generation potential of 5.5 TWh, which is 8.7 percent of the domestic electricity demand. By the year 2020 wind power could already cover 13.5 percent of the electricity requirement. If around 100 wind turbines are installed every year by the year 2030, the wind power can cover 24 percent of the Austrian electricity demand.

Austrian companies are offering their services on the world market as suppliers

or service providers especially in the fields of control systems, rotor blade material, generators, plant concepts and tube tower steel.

For example, every second newly erected wind turbine is equipped with a control system from the Austrian company Bachmann electronic GmbH, and the wind power plants of the Chinese market leader Sinovel Wind Group are based on AMSC Windtec plant concepts. Offshore companies are also well positioned internationally. The Austrian company Palfinger Marine, for example, is internationally successful in the field of crane production for the construction of offshore wind turbines.

The export quota in the production sector was 96%, 39% in the infrastructure sector and 33% in the service sector. The main export market is Europe (64%), followed by Asia (21%) and America (16%). In the wind power supply industry, 2,054 people were employed in 2014. In addition, there were 383 jobs for domestic operators. A further 3,600 jobs were located in the fields of erection, operation and dismantling of wind power plants. In total, therefore, it is possible to speak from around 6,000 jobs.

Sources and additional information:

IG Windkraft: https://www.igwindkraft.at/fakten/?xmlval_ID_KEY[0]=1234

bmvit: Bericht Innovative Energietechnologien in Österreich Marktentwicklung 2014, www.NachhaltigWirtschaften.at

WU Wien, Deloitte, Wien Energie: Studie Erneuerbare Energien in Österreich 2015