Lower Austria sources 100% of power from renewables

Lower Austria, the largest state in Austria, is now generating 100% of its power from renewable sources, it was announced on Thursday.

Presently, the state produces 59% of its electricity at large hydropower plants (HPPs) and 4% at small hydro units. At the same time, 26% are covered by wind farms, 9% by biomass facilities and 2% by solar parks, officials said at a press conference yesterday.

This has been achieved with heavy investments in both energy efficiency and renewables, governor Erwin Proell said. He added that about EUR 2.8 billion (USD 3bn) had been spent on renewable energy capacity in Lower Austria since 2002, from solar to HPP upgrades.

The state’s next objective is to meet half of its energy demand with renewables by 2030 and to raise the number of local green jobs to 50,000 from the current 36,000 by the same year, the governor noted.

Overall, Austria now generates 75% of its electricity from renewables.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.087)

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