Austrian wind power company invests 500 million euros

Austrian Wind Power Burgenland Windfarms will add onshore wind turbines on the Parndorf Plain, delivering 2 MW each, expediting permitting, and boosting renewable electricity generation across Andau, Halbturn, Moenchhof, and Nickelsdorf.

Austrian Wind Power GmbH recently announced plans to invest more than 500 million euros US $659 million within the next five years in new windfarms in the county of Burgenland.

Austrian Wind Power is a subsidiary of Burgenlaendische ElektrizitaetswirtschaftAktiengesellschaft Bewag, while projects like the Inn River hydropower plant highlight Austria's diverse generation mix.

The first four projects will be built on the Parndorf Plain in the northern part of Burgenland. The almost treeless plain is a very convenient site for windfarms. Austrian Wind Power GmbH plans to install 45 wind turbines around the city of Andau, 62 turbines in Halbturn, 42 in Moenchhof, and 21 in Nickelsdorf. Each turbine will have an energy output of 2 megawatts MW, and, elsewhere in Europe, Estonia's 570 MW wind projects are progressing. At the moment, the company is applying for permission to construction the windfarm. Construction will start in September 2011, with completion set for 2013. General contractors will be called for proposals in April 2011.

According to the Wind Barriers study carried out by the European Wind Energy Association, Austria is one of the fastest countries in Europe to complete the planning process for windfarms, while German wind producers are looking abroad for growth. Permitting for a windfarm takes about 10 months to complete. Only Finland, where planning takes about eight months, is faster, even as offshore wind investments accelerate worldwide. Portugal, at 58 months, takes the longest. One of the primary reasons for delay is the large amount of public authorities involved. In Greece, for example, a developer has to contact 41 authorities to obtain permits for an onshore windfarm.

With 138 wind turbines in 10 windfarms, Austrian Wind Power is one of the largest green electricity producers in Austria. The Austrian Wind Power windfarms have a total rated power of 241 MW and produce more than 500 million kWh of electricity each year, while planned Mur River hydropower stations could complement this output in Austria. In Burgenland, energy produced from wind power covers about twothirds of the entire provincial electricity consumption.

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