“We had hoped that the new Electricity Industry Act and the Acceleration Act would be passed. Now the legislative period is ending, so realistically it will be 2025,” said the head of the partially state-owned electricity company in the “Salzburger Nachrichten”.
The photovoltaic boom of recent years has led to surplus electricity on sunny days and negative prices on the electricity exchange. Strugl called for better conditions for investments in the grid in order to transport the surplus to the pumped storage facilities in the Alps. Exporting PV electricity does not work because the surplus electricity “is generated everywhere at the same time,” said Strugl.
Oversupply of solar power
At the weekend, airport board member Günther Ofner also drew attention to the urgent need for action in energy policy. “In May 2024, there were already 78 hours with a negative electricity price in Austria and the trend is increasing sharply. There is an oversupply of solar power in eastern Austria more and more often and electricity prices are plummeting into negative territory, which means that producers then have to pay for the electricity they feed into the grid unless they switch off their generation plants,” criticized Ofner. With a peak output of 46 megawatts, Vienna Airport is one of the largest PV plant operators in the country.
Figures from the transmission system operator APG also show that there is stress in the electricity system. In June, wind turbines and run-of-river power plants had to be shut down due to the surplus in order to avoid overloading the electricity grid. According to APG, 39,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity have been lost since January due to the curtailment.
The Electricity Industry Act (ElWG) prepared by the governing parties ÖVP and the Greens was supposed to provide a remedy. The climate minister responsible for energy, Leonore Gewessler (Greens), described it as an “operating system” for the energy transition. The draft law has been sitting in a drawer since June, however, because the ÖVP still sees open issues at the EU level. The necessary two-thirds majority in the National Council would also require the votes of the SPÖ or FPÖ.
The ElWG also provides for clearer rules for price changes and power cuts. Following court rulings, there is great uncertainty in the industry as to how electricity providers are legally allowed to change their prices. This currently means that customers often only benefit from a price reduction if they actively agree, the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labor noted on Tuesday. If they do not respond, they either keep the old tariff or even face termination of the contract. In the worst case, their electricity or gas will be turned off. “It is high time to establish clear legal regulations for price adjustments in the energy sector,” demanded Linz AK President Andreas Stangl.
Verbund buys PV projects in Italy
Verbund announced an investment on Tuesday. The group has bought two photovoltaic projects in Italy from the Turkish renewable energy investor Kinesis Enerji. These have a planned output of 110 megawatts peak and share a substation in the immediate vicinity of important consumers in the greater Rome area.
Verbund announced that it had agreed to keep the purchase price confidential. The projects are at an advanced stage of development. Verbund generates the majority of its electricity with hydroelectric power plants. By 2030, Verbund aims to generate a quarter of its electricity from wind and solar power.
