Welcome to IEA Wind Member Country Activities for Austria 2011

In Austria, 2011 was a successful year for wind power. In July, the Austrian parliament adopted new legislation for electricity from renewable energy sources, the Ökostromgesetz 2012 (Green Electricity Act 2012, GEA 2012). This law maintains the existing feed-in-system but establishes for the first time a stable legal framework by 2020. It has a target of adding 2,000 MW of wind power to the existing capacity (1,011 MW) by 2020. As before, the feed-in tariff is set by an ordinance of the Minister for Economic Affairs and is not fixed in the GEA itself.

The tariff is applicable only for the year 2012, bringing some uncertainty for investors. The purchase obligation is limited to a specific amount of capacity (depending on the available funds for new projects). The feed-in-tariff for 2012 was fixed at 0.095 EUR/kWh (0.123 USD/kWh), a small decrease to 2011’s tariff of 0.097 EUR/kWh (0.126 USD/kWh).

In 2011, 31 wind turbines were built with a total capacity of 73 MW. At the beginning of 2012, 656 wind turbines were operating with a total capacity of 1,084 MW. These turbines are producing 2.2 TWh of electricity each year, which is a share of 3.4% of Austrian electricity demand or energy for approximately 600,000 households. In 2012, added installation of 327 MW are expected.