Statistics on renewable energies in Austria

Published on: October 29, 2020 / update from: November 9, 2020 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

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Statistics on renewable energies in Austria

Important note: The PDF is password protected.
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German version – To see the PDF, please click on the image below.
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Renewable energies in Austria – PDF download

In its climate and energy strategy, Austria has committed to reducing greenhouse gases by 46 percent by 2030 compared to 2005. In order to achieve this goal, the share of renewable energies in gross final energy consumption should initially increase to 34 percent by 2020 and to a value of 45 to 50 percent by 2030. At the same time, the total electricity consumption should be covered by renewable energy sources domestically. Renewable energies are energy sources that regenerate relatively quickly compared to fossil energy sources, including hydro and wind power, solar energy, biogenic energy sources and geothermal energy.

Significance in energy supply
Renewable energies already play an important role in Austria's energy supply. The share of renewable energies in Austria's primary energy production was over 83 percent in 2019 and the share of final energy consumption was around 33.4 percent (2018). The renewables with the largest share are hydropower and wood fuels. Further information on the structure of the energy mix can be found on the topic page on the energy market in Austria.

Significance in the electricity supply
Renewable energies are of central importance for electricity generation in Austria. Their share here was already more than 72 percent in 2017. Hydropower also makes the largest contribution among renewables to electricity generation, over 60 percent in 2018. Overall, electricity generation from hydropower amounted to around 38,400 gigawatt hours in 2017. The previous peak value for electricity generation from hydropower in Austria was reached in 2012 with 43.8 terawatt hours. Further details on this important energy source for Austria can be found on the Hydropower in Austria topic page.

Wind power
In addition to hydropower, wind power is a significantly smaller but nevertheless important factor in Austria's energy supply. The cumulative nominal output of all wind turbines in Austria is continuously increasing. However, the annually installed output of wind turbines shows that expansion has slowed down. In 2018, systems with an output of 230 megawatts were added, and an increase of 209 megawatts is expected for 2019.

Photovoltaics
Generating energy from the sun's rays is also becoming increasingly important in Austria. In 2018, the installed capacity of photovoltaic systems reached around 1.44 gigawatts. The annual increase amounted to around 168.8 megawatts. In total, around 5.18 petajoules were generated by photovoltaics in Austria in 2018.

Economic key figures
The largest turnover in the area of ​​renewable energies in Austria in 2017 was generated with solid biomass, followed by hydropower and wind power. A similar distribution can also be seen in the number of employees in the renewable energy sector in Austria. The expansion of renewable energies in Austria is supported, among other things, by the Green Electricity Act; for example, there is an obligation to purchase at fixed feed-in tariffs.

Statistics on the electricity market in Austria

Important note: The PDF is password protected.
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German version – To see the PDF, please click on the image below.
German Version – To view the PDF, please click on the image below.

Electricity market in Austria – PDF download

The electricity supply in Austria is already largely provided by renewable energies; in 2017, their share of electricity consumption was 72.2 percent. According to the climate and energy strategy, all electricity needs should be covered by renewable energies by 2030. In 2018, the final consumption of electrical energy was 66.37 terawatt hours; If the power plants' own needs and transmission losses are taken into account, domestic electricity consumption totaled 71.8 terawatt hours. There are also electricity exports amounting to around 19.13 terawatt hours and around 5.12 terawatt hours for the operation of the pumped storage plants. A total of 96.06 terawatt hours of electrical energy were used.

At the same time, around 68 terawatt hours of electricity were produced in Austria. To cover demand, an additional 28.08 terawatt hours of electricity were imported. Since 2001, the electricity exchange balance has been consistently positive, meaning Austria imports more electrical energy than it exports. Compared to the previous year, however, the exchange volume decreased.

In addition to hydroelectric power plants, natural gas power plants and wind turbines are primarily involved in the production of electricity in Austria. Photovoltaic systems, on the other hand, were only responsible for around 1.2 percent of gross electricity generation in 2018, and coal is also rarely used for electricity compared to other countries.

On the consumer side, it can be seen that the demand for electricity, especially in large industry, has increased in recent years, by around 4.1 terawatt hours between 2008 and 2018. The volume purchased by households also increased quite significantly. In 2018 they used around 14.55 terawatt hours, which corresponds to an increased consumption of around 1.59 terawatt hours of electricity compared to 2008. Other small customers and medium-sized industries were able to reduce their electricity requirements over the same period.

The electricity market in Austria has been liberalized since 2001. There has been a significant increase in switching electricity providers since 2014. While a maximum of just under 73,500 households changed their electricity provider up to and including 2013, this number is now around 209,000 in 2018. This corresponds to a switching rate of around 4.2 percent.

Statistics on the energy market in Austria

Important note: The PDF is password protected.
Please get in contact with me. Of course, the PDF is free of charge. Important note: The PDF is password protected. Please contact me. Of course the PDF is free of charge.

German version – To see the PDF, please click on the image below.
German Version – To view the PDF, please click on the image below.

Energy market in Austria – PDF download

The Austrian climate and energy strategy envisages a move away from fossil fuels by 2050. By 2030, the share of renewable energy should be increased to 45 to 50 percent and energy efficiency should be increased by 25 to 30 percent and the balance of renewable energy in electricity production should be 100 percent.

Domestic energy production was around 516 petajoules in 2019, once again increasing production compared to the previous year and thus following the long-term trend. The structure of the energy sources used already shows a decline in fossil fuels and a significant increase in renewable energies.

However, Austria cannot currently cover its energy needs itself; final energy consumption in 2019 amounted to around 1,141 petajoules. Accordingly, Austria is dependent on energy imports, a total of around 1,327 petajoules in 2018. Fossil fuels dominate here and account for around 90 percent of all energy imports.

The breakdown according to consumption shows the high demand in the transport sector. It alone is responsible for over a third of Austria's energy requirements. Other sectors with high energy consumption are the manufacturing sector and private households.

In Austria there are around 2,500 companies active in the energy supply industry. In addition to OMV AG, other important companies are Verbund AG and Wien Energie GmbH.

Suitable for:

• Statistics on the subject of photovoltaics and the energy transition in Germany
• Statistics on renewable energies in Switzerland