Milestone for wind power in Burgschleinitz-Kühnring

The VERBUND wind power project represents a great opportunity for the municipality of Burgschleinitz-Kühnring to secure a stable energy future. An added-value package ensures that the municipality has a direct and indirect stake in the use of wind power.

A public referendum will take place in the municipality on Sunday 15th March. The project area lies in the area WA109 designated by the state of Lower Austria. The question to be put to the vote is: ‘Should the municipality of Burgschleinitz-Kühnring dedicate areas in Wind Location Zone 109 between Zogelsdorf and Reinprechtspölla for three wind power plants?’ 

The renewable electricity generated by the plants would correspond to the annual consumption of 17,000 households. Burgschleinitz-Kühnring would benefit from this through a fixed, long-term electricity tariff of 9.6 cents per kilowatt hour, guaranteed for 20 years after the plants have been commissioned. 

Energy dialogue in the community

The referendum was preceded by a comprehensive dialogue process involving events, mobile information booths, and meetings during consultation hours. "Last week, our project team travelled through the community’s villages and spoke to many residents. The mood towards the transition to clean energy was clear: right now, we need more domestic energy from regional production to make us more independent of global politics," says Lisa Csenar, Managing Director of VERBUND Green Power Österreich GmbH.

Voluntary environmental impact assessment 

Over several years, bird studies have shown that there is a safe distance to sensitive breeding areas, while a year-long wind measurement has clearly shown that the site has very high wind potential. A compatible transport solution for the construction phase would protect the settlement areas from excessive construction site traffic and all legal distances from the wind turbines to the settlement area would be observed. Although the project does not meet the threshold for an environmental impact assessment, VERBUND will nevertheless voluntarily apply for such a procedure.