Stormy Easter brings new wind power record

 The Easter holidays brought a lot of wind power for Austria with the Easter storm. According to IG Windkraft, wind power accounted for 61.3% of electricity consumption, the largest share of wind power ever. This meant that Austria outperformed all other EU countries on Easter Monday. The entire month of March also stands out clearly from recent years. Wind power production was almost twice as high as the average of the last five years. "At Easter, wind power once again clearly showed what it is capable of," says a delighted Stefan Moidl, Managing Director of IG Windkraft: "However, new sites, accelerated approval procedures and more staff in the authorities in the federal states are still needed to achieve the goal of a 100 percent renewable energy supply."

Almost two-thirds share of wind power in Austria

The storm over the Easter holidays once again brought a lot of wind power with it. On Easter Sunday (60.4% with 64.7 GWh) and Easter Monday (61.3% with 69.3 GWh), wind power covered almost two thirds of Austria's electricity supply. Electricity generation from gas-fired power plants in Austria was significantly reduced to 0.6 GWh on these days or almost suspended. "The Easter days show impressively how close Austria is to an electricity supply with 100% renewable energies," says Moidl: "With the right framework conditions - which we unfortunately do not yet have - the goal is easily achievable in a few years."

European record for wind power share

In comparison with all other EU countries, Austria was also at the forefront over the last two days. On Easter Sunday, the share of wind power was only higher in Germany. On Easter Monday, the share of wind power was higher in Austria than in any other EU country. "This shows once again how valuable Austrian wind power is," emphasizes Moidl and points out: "Even if the expansion of wind power in Austria is not yet as advanced as in some other countries, our wind turbines can generate wind power when others need it. This makes Austrian wind power much more valuable than that in other countries."

Wind power monthly record in March

Picture: © IG Windkraft

Never before has so much wind power been generated in Austria in March as this year. Compared to the March average of the last five years (2019 to 2023), almost twice as much wind power was generated this year. "Once again, wind power showed what it is capable of last month," says Moidl happily: "However, the framework conditions still need to be adapted in order to achieve an electricity supply with 100% renewable energy."

Federal states must change framework conditions

With the Renewable Energies Expansion Act (EAG) and the amended Environmental Impact Assessment Act (UVP-G), the industry has the framework conditions at federal level that it needs to expand wind power. At provincial level, however, with the exception of Burgenland, there is still a lack of sufficient areas for the expansion of wind power. The simplification of approvals and the increase in personnel in the authorities has not yet been tackled in any of the federal states. "At 126 billion kWh, the wind power potential in Austria is very high," notes Moidl: "However, the appropriate framework conditions in the federal states are lacking for rapid utilization. These need to be changed as quickly as possible."