For the energy transition, “we not only need lots of wind and solar systems, but also stable power grids and hydrogen for industry,” said Gwessler. The plan regulates the necessary expansion of Austria’s energy networks by 2030 and is intended to pave the way to a climate-neutral energy system by 2040.
Building a hydrogen infrastructure
The ÖNIP presents scenarios for future energy consumption and the correspondingly necessary national generation from renewable energies and derives the need for electricity and gas pipelines from this. It is also planned to build a hydrogen infrastructure parallel to the existing natural gas network. Essential to the expansion plan is the increasing electrification of the energy system and the integration of volatile renewables and renewable gases.
The draft plan was presented and submitted for review in autumn 2023. Numerous stakeholders from the energy industry, environmental organizations, social partners, politics, administration and federal states were involved in the creation of the final plan, said Gewessler.
“Milestone for overall energy industry planning”
“The publication of the ÖNIP represents a milestone for Austria’s overall energy planning,” said Gerhard Christiner, CEO of the transmission system operator Austrian Power Grid (APG), at the press conference. The ÖNIP enables a better coordinated implementation of the energy transition in the future. A lot of wind and solar power is currently being produced in the east of Austria, but the grid capacity is often not sufficient to transport surpluses to the large storage facilities in the west of Austria. “It’s bitter, it hurts and it also costs money,” said Christiner. The ÖNIP is a central step here.
In addition, the network infrastructure plan creates urgently needed investment security for the expansion of the networks because the plan has already been subjected to a strategic environmental assessment, which will accelerate downstream approval procedures for new systems.
Billions of dollars invested in power grids
The board member of Austrian Gas Grid Management, Bernhard Painz, also told journalists that he was pleased with the publication of the plan, which takes into account the necessary expansion and conversion of the electricity and gas networks across all sectors. “The ÖNIP highlights the need for a parallel infrastructure of hydrogen and methane so that the integration of biomethane and hydrogen into the energy system can progress,” said Painz. The planned hydrogen network is primarily intended to supply industrial sites with a renewable alternative to natural gas; the current ÖNIP does not provide for the supply of households.
APG plans to invest 9 billion euros in the electricity networks by 2034, and the existing gas network is to be upgraded for hydrogen by 2 billion euros by 2050. The order to create the ÖNIP comes from the Renewable Energy Expansion Act, where it was decided that Austria’s electricity supply should be covered 100 percent by renewable energy throughout the year (national balance) by 2030, explained Gewessler.
