Economics Minister: “We need more hydroelectric power plants”

“We need more hydroelectric power plants,” he said during a background discussion with journalists. Specifically, he would like to promote pumped storage power plants as part of the recently presented industrial strategy. Surplus electricity is used to pump water from a lower basin to an upper basin. When necessary, the water flows back and drives turbines to generate electricity.

“We won’t be able to do it with photovoltaics alone,” said the minister, citing as an example the winter that is now ending, in which there was little sun and wind. Therefore, his priority is water over wind and PV, with the latter only in conjunction with appropriate storage.

His ministry wants to create a map of possible run-of-river power plant locations by the end of the year. Further planning should then take place on the basis of this, although Hattmannsdorfer is aware that it is a “politically difficult topic”. The Freudenau power plant in Vienna, for example, which was completed in 1998, cost 1.1 billion euros at the time.

New law

The Renewable Expansion Acceleration Act (EABG), which should have come into force by then, is intended to help. This is intended to enable faster implementation of renewable energy projects. It took around 20 years for the Limberg III pumped storage power plant in Kaprun to go into operation.

As part of the law, the federal states are also given certain specifications as to what the expansion of renewable energy should look like, depending on feasibility. According to Hattmannsdorfer, goals are given above all, but not the path to get there. “The federal states know better.” That is the difference from previous years, when climate policy was made with the index finger.

Hattmannsdorfer also wants to redesign the network infrastructure plan with a view to mandatory coordination between the federal states regarding network expansion. If there is a lack of this, there would sometimes be bottlenecks despite sufficient energy production.

Hattmannsdorfer wants to make Austria a driver of innovation in the energy sector and use the measures to eradicate the current location disadvantage compared to Germany. Not least with the plan for cheaper industrial electricity, which still has to be approved by Brussels. “We have to become an energy exporter; this is the only way to make electricity more affordable,” concludes Hattmannsdorfer.