The energy regulator E-Control and the transmission system operator APG (Austrian Power Grid) see no danger of a blackout in the power supply. “We have not yet had a nationwide failure over a long period of time. We also see no indicators that this will ever happen,” said E-Control board member Alfons Haber yesterday at an online event.
The electricity industry is more concerned with the problem of sluggish grid expansion. The fact that the conversion of the energy system to renewable energy sources such as wind and sun also requires a massive expansion of the electricity grid and storage is undisputed in the energy sector. How this is supposed to succeed in view of the lack of social acceptance, he “completely lacks the target image,” says Gerhard Christiner, CTO of the transmission system operator APG.
New 380 kV lines would be needed, and people would then have to be persuaded to “endure such a power line, although perhaps in the region, let’s say somewhere between Donawitz and the Weinviertel, these people don’t see any added value for themselves”. However, the lack of social acceptance is not openly discussed.
If the renewables are expanded as planned, by 2030 “there will be massive surpluses in the summer, sometimes twice the consumption. But I have no idea where the storage facilities will be”.
The pump storage would fill up relatively quickly. How the electricity market, security and integration of renewables go hand in hand, he still lacks the picture of how this can work safely in Austria, said the APG board member.
The network must be expanded in line with the expansion of production and consumption, said Markus Winter, CTO at Windkraft Simonsfeld and board member at IG Windkraft. “Now we have to wait up to ten years in Lower Austria for the grid for our approved wind farms.”
Source: Nachrichten
