Urgent need for action to secure Austria’s energy future
Vienna (OTS) –The expansion of small hydropower has declined sharply compared to the previous year. Applications for new construction subsidies for small hydroelectric power plants fell by over 40 percent in 2022 compared to the previous year – from a level that was already too low to achieve the expansion goals. Including revitalization, the drop compared to the previous year is over 20 percent. Only five percent of the national expansion targets have been achieved so far. The outlook for 2024 is negative. The enormous legal leeway that the EU opened up last year has so far hardly been used by Austrian politicians.
Energy transition please wait
After two years of the gas crisis, the motto for small hydropower in most federal states is still: Please wait. The right framework conditions for the rapid development of small hydropower are still missing. The result is a sharp decline in small hydropower expansion in 2024.
Currently, around 4,000 small hydropower plants feed around six terawatt hours of CO2-free green electricity into the public supply network. These cover around ten percent of Austria’s electricity needs and supply around 1.7 million households with electrical energy – which corresponds to more than 50 percent of households in Austria.
National need for action
The Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) stipulates that Austria’s electricity needs should be covered entirely from renewable sources by 2030. To achieve this, the federal government has agreed to produce an additional five terawatt hours annually from hydropower. In 2023, only 20 small hydropower plants were newly built or applied for funding. In 2022 there were 35. If the revitalizations are also taken into account, then the expansion falls in absolute terms from 62 to 50 projects. Last year, additional capacities of 39,562,555 KWh were created, which is almost 25 percent less than the year before. This means that only around five percent of the expansion target in the area of small hydropower has been realized within the EAG.
Great scope for action unused
At the European level, the legal framework has changed significantly in recent months. With the new Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) and the extension of the EU Emergency Regulation, Austria has been given enormous scope to significantly improve the framework conditions for the expansion of small hydropower. Other countries such as Germany, for example, have long since begun to use this leeway.
„It is time for us to advance the energy transition in Austria with concrete and effective steps. Small hydropower represents the backbone of decentralized supply in Austria and supports the integration of other renewables into the network. Saving money here slows down the energy transition twice as much“, said Ablinger.
By February 21st, the federal and state governments are obliged to implement the overriding public interest in the construction of generation plants and their network connections nationally in accordance with RED III. Originally, the Renewable Expansion Acceleration Act (EABG) would have been planned for this last year – from which hydropower was, however, deleted at short notice . “There were long negotiations about the integration of hydropower into the EABG. Now it’s time to finally take action“, Ablinger noted. “In addition to the implementation of RED III, appropriate valorization of subsidies within the framework of the EAG and EABG Act is essential to ensure the economic viability and attractiveness of small hydropower.“
Six-point plan
To ensure that Austria does not lose connection as a suitable business location and can provide cheap energy from small hydropower for industry, business and the population, the following points must be implemented immediately:
Federal states must act The federal states must implement the EU obligation and immediately significantly speed up the approval processes and hire more staff in the approval authorities. The specifications are good, but national implementation is often inadequate.
EAG regulations Market premiums and investment subsidies must be set immediately with the relevant regulation. Since this has not yet happened, we have already lost the first quarter of 2024 for the expansion of small hydropower. The regulation must therefore come immediately.
Electricity Industry Act (ElWG) A strong ElWG is the basis for rapid network access, network expansion and therefore for the entire electricity industry. The current draft must not be watered down and must be adopted quickly.
Higher goals for expansion In order to be able to meet the goals of the climate agreement, the EU and Austria’s self-imposed goals, an adjustment to the goals with greater expansion of renewable energy is urgently needed. For small hydropower, this means an annual expansion through new systems and revitalization of at least 500 MW. Otherwise, Austria will have to pay billions in fines.
Redesign of permits Improvements must be made quickly for faster approvals of small hydropower projects and binding agreements with the federal states to achieve goals, for example with the Renewable Energy Expansion Acceleration Act or the Climate Protection Act.
One Appropriate valorization of funding within the framework of the EAG and EABG Act is essential to finally ensure a stable framework for investments.
As a non-profit organization, Small Hydropower Austria represents the interests of the small hydropower industry (small hydropower operators, planners and suppliers) and advocates for hydropower as a clean and emission-free form of electricity generation in Austria. With 4,000 systems, small hydroelectric power plants provide ten percent of Austria’s electricity needs, supply 1.7 million households and save six million tons of CO2 annually. Small hydropower is active climate protection and the backbone of renewable electricity generation in Austria. All information at:
Questions & Contact:
Small hydropower Austria dr. Paul Ablinger Managing Director 0664/88253348 p. ablinger@kleinwasserkraft.at
Mag. Martin Aschauer Himmelhoch GmbH – text, PR and event 0676 350 18 89 martin.aschauer@himmelhoch.at
