The first call for photovoltaics starts on April 21st. Each technology has its own launch date. In the press foyer after the Council of Ministers, Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) underscored the importance of the support measures given Austria’s painful dependence on Russian natural gas.
“It takes all of our strength to free ourselves from this dependency,” she emphasized, namely through energy production from the sun, wind, water or biomass. The advantage: “They don’t send us any bills for this, they don’t blackmail us. Russia is already doing that.” Every wind turbine, every solar system frees the country “from Vladimir Putin’s grip.”
Leonore Gewessler’s statement:
With the ordinance, almost 300 million euros could now flow into the promotion of small and medium-sized power plants, significantly more than in the assessment version. This enables electricity to be produced from renewable energy sources in the amount of around one terawatt hour (TWh). The investment premiums now presented are one part. The second regulation, which is still outstanding, concerns market premiums. This is being worked on at full speed and should be completed in the first half of the year.
Economics Minister Margarete Schramböck (ÖVP) described the energy supply as Europe’s Achilles’ heel. Austria wants to achieve 100 percent electricity from renewable energies by 2030, and is a pioneer here. The current 300 million euros triggered around 850 million euros in investments, an “enormous boost”. What is needed now is speed. The approval procedures would have to be faster in order to be able to advance large projects for the energy transition.
Schramböck’s statement:
The aim of the Renewable Energy Sources Expansion Act (EAG) is for Austria’s electricity supply to be 100 percent from renewable energy sources by 2030, calculated over the year. This would require an additional 27 terawatt hours (TWh) of renewable energy. Of this, an increase of 11 TWh is targeted for photovoltaics, 10 TWh for wind, 5 TWh for hydropower and 1 TWh for biomass. Today’s regulation supports photovoltaic systems up to 1 megawatt (MW), hydropower up to 25 and wind power up to 1 MW.
According to the Ministry of Climate Protection, 240 million euros of the funding will go to PV and electricity storage, 4 million euros to wind power and 6 million euros to biomass. In the case of hydropower up to 2 MW, it is 11 million euros and 19 million euros for revitalization. For hydropower plants with an installed capacity of 2 to 25 MW, the subsidy amounts to 15.4 million euros.
Source: Nachrichten
