Electricity generation increased throughout 2023, but gas production fell. For the first time in over 20 years, more electricity was exported abroad than imported, according to the regulatory authority E-Control. The gas storage facilities are full to the brim.
Electricity and gas consumption has already fallen month following month in the past few months. In the entire calendar year of 2023, around 5 percent less electricity was consumed in Austria at 60.7 terawatt hours (TWh) than in the previous year. Gas consumption fell by 12.5 percent to 75.6 TWh, according to data from E-Control. A similar picture emerged in December 2023: electricity consumption fell by 1.5 percent and gas consumption by 9 percent.
11 percent produced by wind turbines
Domestic electricity generation increased by around 6 percent to 71.15 TWh in 2023 as a whole. The share of hydroelectric power plants in total electricity production in the previous year was 40.9 TWh, around 57.7 percent, and that of thermal power plants was 19 percent. The generation of wind turbines contributed 11.3 percent to total production.
Austria imported 21.55 TWh of electricity last year, a quarter less than in 2022. In contrast, at 21.62 TWh, almost 9 percent more electricity was exported than in the previous year. “This also means that in 2023 Austria will export more electricity to neighboring countries than it imports for the first time in over 20 years,” says the energy regulator E-Control.
Gas demand decreased by 10 percent
For gas, domestic annual production (including the feed-in of biogenic gases) fell by 10 percent to around 6.3 TWh. At the end of 2023, the gas storage content was around 90.8 TWh, almost 9 percent higher than the previous year. In the entire 2023 calendar year, around 168 TWh of gas was imported from abroad and 90.2 TWh was exported.
