2023-06-28 11:08:00
Renewable energy sources produced more electricity in May than Austria needed, which led to new records in electricity exports – the transmission system operator Austrian Power Grid (APG) announced on Wednesday. At 4,281 gigawatt hours (GWh), hydropower contributed around 82 percent to renewable production, while wind energy, at 575 GWh, was more than half as much as in the previous year. “Thanks to the good production from renewable energy sources, a surplus of electricity could be produced in Austria, which meant that Austria was able to export electricity abroad every single day in May,” said APG CEO Gerhard Christiner according to the announcement. “That hasn’t happened once in the last three years.”
Warning despite positive development
Despite the positive development, Christiner warned of the consequences of an inadequate network infrastructure. In May, the operational planning of the pumped storage power plants had to be intervened on 16 days because the grids were too weak to transport the electricity. A total of 18,320 MWh of potential storage capacity was lost due to underpowered grids. “The best generation from renewables is of no use to us if the infrastructure required to distribute the electricity is too weak or non-existent,” emphasized APG’s CTO.
In order to enable the energy turnaround and the electrification of business, industry and society, APG is investing around EUR 490 million in the domestic electricity infrastructure this year. A total of around 3.5 billion euros will be invested in the next ten years. Thomas Karall, CFO of APG, emphasized the need for a powerful power grid: “A powerful power grid with sufficient capacity would significantly reduce the need for redispatch and cut costs. The immediate expansion of the grid infrastructure therefore has top priority.”
“Redispatch” refers to measures taken by grid operators to keep the electricity grid stable. If there are bottlenecks in the grid, for example because too much electricity is being fed in or because lines fail, power plants have to adjust their production. This can mean that they cut back or increase their production, depending on their needs. These measures are referred to as redispatch.
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