More than four fifths of our electricity is produced using climate friendly hydropower. This high percentage makes VERBUND a guarantor for clean energy – both in Austria and on the international core markets. The production portfolio is supplemented by wind power and thermal power plants for generating electricity.
A leading supplier of hydropower in Europe
Together, our hydropower plants in Austria and Bavaria produce a capacity of 7,500 megawatt (MW), generated in highly efficient storage plants and run-of-river plants located high up in the Alps in Salzburg, Tyrol, Carinthia and Styria, as well as on all large rivers in Austria, namely, the Danube, Drau, Enns, Inn, Mur and Salzach rivers. All VERBUND hydropower plants in Austria are capable of supplying ten railway companies, such as the ÖBB (Austrian federal railway) with environmentally friendly electricity.
Since 2009, we have established ourselves on the river Inn in Bavaria with 13 run-of-river power plants. In April 2013, another eight run-of-river power plants were added on the Inn and the Danube, so that we are now also the largest producer of hydropower in Bavaria.
Verbund is backing wind power as a primary supplement to hydropower. We are currently operating three wind farms with a total installed capacity of 49 MW in the Lower Austrian municipalities of Bruck an der Leitha, Hollern and Petronell-Carnuntum, as well as a 16 MW wind farm in Bulgaria near the Black Sea coast.
Moreover, we operate a 100 MW wind farm on the Romanian Black Sea coast. In Germany, we acquired five wind farms with approx. 90 MW in 2012.
In addition to that, we are making use of the highly efficient technology proper to combined cycle gas turbine plants – under strict adherence to environmental standards, needless to say. We are therefore also one of the largest suppliers of district heating in Austria.
We will continue to invest in hydropower in future, because this is the most important and efficient source of renewable energy. The current projects will allow us to supply a further 250,000 households in Austria alone with environmentally friendly electricity by 2017.
At international level, VERBUND is also advancing the increase of hydropower.