
A major wind power project has submitted documents for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) in Upper Austria. As reported by the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten (OÖN) on Friday, the private 250-million-euro project in the Mühlviertel municipality of Sandl is planned to consist of 22 wind turbines with a total capacity of 160 megawatts (MW). According to the Ministry of Environment, this could sextuple the current wind energy output in the state, which has so far resisted the expansion of wind power.
The operators plan to install the wind turbines northeast of the town center, in forests near the Czech border. The electricity generated will be transported via an underground cable to supply around 125,000 households. The powerful wind turbines (7.2 MW each) will have a hub height of 199 meters, with the rotor blades reaching up to 285 meters into the sky, according to the plans reported by OÖN.
One of the Windiest Regions in Upper Austria
The office of Environment Minister Stefan Kaineder (Greens) confirmed on Friday that the project has been submitted. “The northeastern Mühlviertel is one of the windiest areas in Upper Austria — we must use these natural conditions,” he expressed approval. “With the ‘Windenergie Sandl’ project, we can generate up to 0.5 TWh of clean electricity annually, which will make an important contribution to our climate goals and regional energy supply,” Kaineder said. “A secure and sustainable energy supply is a crucial factor for maintaining and expanding our industry.”
“In no other area in Upper Austria do we have such a unique combination of wind strength and sparse settlement. We have up to 1,500 meters of distance to the next settlement. That makes Sandl ideal,” said Philipp Wieser, spokesperson for the operating company Windenergie Sandl, in an interview with OÖN. The project is backed by two families, who, with the help of banks, plan to invest 250 million euros in the wind farm and underground cable.
Only 31 Wind Turbines in the State Currently
Currently, the entire state of Upper Austria has only 31 wind turbines. The coalition government’s program from the black-blue government states that wind power expansion will focus on “performance increase through repowering investments in existing wind farms and nature-friendly expansion of existing wind farms with new, high-performance wind turbines.” The IG Windkraft (Wind Power Interest Group) sees potential for 200 wind turbines in the state over the next ten years. The Sandl project area is located within the exclusion zone of Upper Austria’s Wind Power Master Plan, which covers almost the entire state, although this is not legally binding.