The industry association Photovoltaic Austria (PV Austria) presented another sobering assessment of expansion in this sector. Zones designated for PV projects in Lower Austria and Styria have barely been usable for solar power production even after two years, the association said on Sunday in a statement. In most cases, there is a lack of feed-in capacity or zoning approval by the municipalities.
PV Austria therefore called for a uniform, nationwide solution through the “long-overdue” Renewable Expansion Acceleration Act (EABG). “This latest fact check shows that the federal states alone are clearly unable to advance the urgently needed—and universally demanded—domestic power production, and are even blocking it through their inertia,” said Herbert Paierl, Chairman of PV Austria. “Instead of nine different—and in part non-existent—state solutions, we need binding national energy spatial planning. The federal government must now take responsibility and drive the energy transition.”
The criticism was rejected by Lower Austria. “If a municipality and its citizens do not want to pave over vast open spaces with photovoltaics, we certainly won’t force them to,” Deputy Governor Stephan Pernkopf (ÖVP) wrote to APA. He said priority must be given to using roof surfaces, halls, and already sealed areas before taking up open land and valuable farmland. Over the past two years, the state has experienced a genuine PV boom, with capacity tripling within two years.
