Climate Neutrality: Wind Energy Will Become Increasingly Important by 2040

To achieve climate neutrality in Austria by 2040, more electricity must be generated from wind energy than is currently produced by hydropower plants, and wind power production must almost sextuple compared to 2024, according to a document presented by the Energy Agency at a press conference on Wednesday.

Wind Energy: Focus on Photovoltaics Leads to Winter Shortages

The experts at the Energy Agency partly contradict the legislator. "If I were to continue expanding as provided for in the Renewable Expansion Act, namely equal annual production quantities of wind and photovoltaics, then I would create an electricity system that generates massive electricity surpluses in the summer half-year and probably has shortfalls in the winter half-year," explained one of the authors of the study, Günter Pauritsch. The consequence would be that Austria would have to import large amounts of electricity in winter or store the solar power from the summer for several months, which would be significantly more expensive and inefficient. The Energy Agency assumes in its scenario that electricity consumption will double from 75 to around 150 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2040. Hydropower, which provided 44.7 TWh in 2024, will rise to 48.4 TWh, photovoltaics from 8 to 33.5 TWh, and wind energy from 9 to 52.5 TWh. Thermal power plants, which will then run on hydrogen instead of natural gas, will increase from 13 to 14.2 TWh.

Import Dependence Decreases with Expansion of Wind Energy

The Energy Agency has not only looked at electricity production, but at the entire energy system of Austria. This is currently still 60 percent dependent on fossil fuels. This is also associated with a high import dependence and a drain of purchasing power abroad. In 2023, Austria spent around 12 billion euros on energy imports, 7.4 billion euros for crude oil and 4.3 billion euros for natural gas. The Energy Agency assumes that it is possible to convert Austria's energy system to 97 percent green technologies by 2040 and reduce import dependence from 60 to 10 percent. In their scenario, the Energy Agency assumes that energy consumption will decrease by 20 percent to 296 TWh despite economic and population growth. The "key" to this is the extensive electrification of transport, heating and industry. Thanks to battery electric vehicles, energy consumption in the transport sector will decrease from 96 TWh to 33 TWh. In space heating, the study authors see heat pumps and district heating networks as the dominant heating systems of the future. And in industry, electricity will be the most important energy carrier in the future.

(APA/Red)

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