Corporate

Protecting the environment

Expanding the use of renewable sources of energy

An essential aspect of Wien Energie’s sustainability strategy is its commitment to expanding the role played by renewable sources of energy. In doing so, the company focuses on a variety of energy sources such as hydroelectric power stations, wind farms and solar energy units. Moreover, Wien Energie operates the largest forest biomass power station in Europe.

Wien Energie constantly reviews prospects for partnerships domestically and internationally, with a particular focus on Eastern and Southern Europe. This region is ideal not just because it is geographically close to Vienna, but also for commercial reasons – there is a significant need to adopt advanced methods of producing energy.

A recent example: The Levél wind farm, located close to the Austrian border in Hungary. Its twelve wind turbines are capable of producing around 24 megawatts.

In a similar vein, the use of modern power stations which produce electricity and heating particularly effectively thanks to combined heat and power technology, makes a significant contribution to protecting the environment. In total, Wien Energie invested over EUR 190 million during the previous business year alone.

Reducing CO₂ by 2.6 million tonnes

Each year, no less than 2.6 million tonnes of the greenhouse gas CO₂ and 99% of potential sulphur dioxide emissions are prevented from being released into the atmosphere by employing targeted measures. In addition to this, Wien Energie is a sponsor of an initiative by the City of Vienna to reduce the quantity of fine dust particles in the air. Its objective is to replace traditional household heating systems using solid fuel with district heating. The target is to convert 50% of Vienna’s households and businesses in the medium term. This, in turn, should result in a 30-tonne reduction in emissions of fine dust particles per year. Moreover, the City of Vienna is subsidising the use of natural gas powered cars together with Wien Energie in order to reduce fine dust particle and carbon dioxide emissions.

One of Wien Energie’s sustainability objectives (to increase the proportion of electricity produced from green energy plants, including biomass, to 500 gigawatt hours per year) has already been achieved with the opening of the Levél wind farm. And this is just the beginning. The EU has set a target of increasing the total amount of energy produced from renewable energy sources to 20% by the year 2020. In other words, this means reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by 20% and increasing energy efficiency by 20%. Wien Energie’s important contribution to these efforts is reflected in the range of measures it is taking.