VERBUND counters Greenpeace and Global 2000
Responding to an utterance made by Greenpeace and Global 2000 according to which VERBUND purchased nuclear power and delivered it to its Austrian end-consumers, VERBUND announced this claim was devoid of any foundation.
The statement presented by the two environmental organisations had absolutely nothing to do with actual facts, so VERBUND. VERBUND made it unmistakably clear that Austrian end-consumers were being supplied with electricity exclusively generated by domestic hydroelectric power sources, which is also confirmed by the independent regulatory authority E-Control as part of mandatory labelling.
When it comes to electricity there is, in actual fact, a very strict distinction between international trading activities and the supply of Austrian end-consumers, a fact that is also laid down in Austria labelling regulations. In terms of labelling, VERBUND is among Europe’s forerunners and has had its electricity generated from hydroelectric power certified by TÜV Germany ever since the year 1999. Accordingly, VERBUND generates around 25 terawatt hours (TWh) of hydroelectric power a year of which 16 TWh are certified to TÜV and can also be reliably generated from hydroelectric power in extremely dry years. This year, VERBUND is delivering around 11 TWh of electricity from hydroelectric power to domestic end-consumers including provincial suppliers, which is noticeably even less than is demonstrably produced from hydroelectric power in very dry years.
By the way, among VERBUND’s customers are also Burgenland’s Bewag that buys 100 per cent of its external power from VERBUND as well as Ökostrom AG, which both Greenpeace and Global 2000 refer to as “completely free of nuclear power.”
As far as the international trading business is concerned, it must be stated that the trading volumes exceed by far VERBUND’s own production since this is all about pure trading activities processed, for example, at the power exchanges, which, as a rule, are not followed by physical business transactions. Accordingly, any power trading volumes processed in Central Europe, for example, are five times as large as the actual power consumption, which is clear proof for the fact that trading amounts do not result in end consumption.
At all events, VERBUND sharply dismisses such statements made by Greenpeace and Global 2000 in which VERBUND’s trading activities are being confused with importing or exporting electricity.