February (calendar week 5 – 8) was characterized by partly stormy winds. This led to good electricity production from wind power. With 915 gigawatt hours (GWh), around 21 percent more wind power was produced than in January (754 GWh).
"Good electricity generation from wind power is the reason why around 64 percent of the domestic electricity demand (i.e. 3,334 GWh) could be covered from sustainable sources in February," says Gerhard Christiner, CTO of APG.
Austria saves 4.1% electricity
Austria's total electricity demand in the second month of the year was around 5,220 GWh, which is a reduction of 4.1 percent electricity compared to the average of the years 2017 – 2021. This was mainly due to the exceptionally warm temperatures on the one hand and the savings measures of consumers on the other hand.
According to Gerhard Christiner, this trend must continue: “Even though 4.1 percent reduction is a positive trend, it is does not mean that much because of the warm temperatures. In any case, CO2 has been reduced, which is good. The savings also reduced overall system costs and thus made a significant contribution to ensuring system reliability. The trend to reduce CO2 must be pushed further: the sustainable expansion of power grids, renewable production, and storage possibilities is still of utmost importance.”
Tips on saving electricity can be found at apg.at/stromspartipps or on the Climate Ministry's mission11.at page. The APG Powermonitor enables the Austrian population to see the most effective electricity-saving hours and thus make an active contribution to CO2 reduction and system security. The APG Powermonitor can be found at: www.apg.at/powermonitor.
Austria still an electricity importing country
In February, less electricity had to be imported due to the good wind power production, but Austria remains an electricity importing country. The import balance (817 GWh) is 16 percent lower than in February 2022 (977 GWh) and compared to January 2023 (1,321 GWh), 38 percent less electricity had to be imported. On February 4, electricity could even be exported due to the exceptionally good production from renewables.
High grid feed-in due to wind strongholds in the east of the country
The trans-regional electricity grid of APG also enables the exchange of energy within the country. Electricity surpluses in the individual provinces can thus be distributed throughout Austria to compensate deficits.
Due to the weather conditions in February and the resulting good electricity generation from wind power, the country's wind strongholds - Lower Austria and Burgenland - were able to generate a surplus of energy and make it available throughout Austria via the APG grid.
Lower Austria was able to feed 265 GWh into the trans-regional grid, Burgenland 191 GWh. The "industrial province" of Styria had to draw the most electricity from the grid, with 270 GWh, along with Carinthia (226 GWh).
Interventions in the power grid necessary on 16 days in February
The data make it clear that bottlenecks in the existing electricity infrastructure occur time and again: redispatch measures (controlled and targeted interventions in the use of thermal and hydraulic power plants for load control) are still necessary almost every day. "By the end of February, interventions in the power management had already been necessary on 36 days - 16 of which were in February alone," emphasizes Thomas Karall, CFO of APG.
Such measures result in additional costs that eventually the electricity customers have to pay. "After the first two months, the costs this year amount to already around 15 million euros" says Karall. “In order to reduce the number of interventions and thus the resulting costs incurred by consumers, a high-performance electricity grid with sufficient capacities is necessary. The immediate expansion of the grid infrastructure is therefore a top priority.”
The current developments in electricity and energy prices as well as the geopolitical developments in Ukraine show how important a rapid and secure transformation to a sustainable energy system is. This requires immediate overall system planning, adequate capacities in the areas of grids, storage, production and comprehensive digitalization to exploit the flexibilities of all players in the system. All of this must be done immediately. Accelerating and simplifying approval procedures are key levers in this regard. With its investment program of around 3.5 billion euros for the expansion of the electricity infrastructure, APG is ensuring that Austria's transmission grid is made fit for the success of the energy transition and sustainable security of supply for all Austrians.
APG continually keeps track of the development of the domestic electricity industry and regularly publishes diagrams at https://www.apg.at/en/infographics regarding the topics: energy exchange, energy consumption in Austria, energy consumption in Europe, import/export, electricity prices, etc.
About Austrian Power Grid (APG)
As independent transmission system operator Austrian Power Grid (APG) is in charge of ensuring the security of electricity supply in Austria. With our high-performance and digital electricity infrastructure and the use of state-of-the-art technologies we integrate renewable energies, we are the platform for the electricity market, and we provide access to reasonably priced electricity for Austria’s consumers and thus create the basis for Austria as supply-secure industrial and business location and place to live. The APG grid totals a length of about 3,400 km and is operated, maintained and continuously adapted to the increasing challenges of the electrification of businesses, industry and society by a team of approximately 733 specialists. Also in 2022 Austria had a security of supply of 99.99 percent and thus ranks among the top countries worldwide. Our investments of 490 million euros in 2023 (2022: 370 million euros) are a motor for the Austrian economy and a crucial factor in reaching Austria’s climate and energy targets. Until 2032 APG will invest a total of approximately 3.5 billion euros in grid expansion and renovation projects, which amounts to approximately 19 percent of the total of 18 billion euros which the energy industry will invest in the grid infrastructure over the next ten years.
Press contact
Christoph Schuh
Downloads