In October, electricity consumption fell across Austria. Compared to the average of the past five years, this is a decrease of about five percent. This can be attributed, among other things, to the willingness to save electricity, reports network operator APG.
The population has been saving electricity since July. According to APG, power consumption between July and September was about three percent below the reference value for the years 2017 to 2021. “Saving electricity is still the order of the day. Every kilowatt-hour that is not consumed effectively helps to prevent a possible power shortage in winter,” said APG’s CTO, Gerhard Christiner, in a press release. It starts with a very conscious use of electricity.
In October, Austria consumed 4,522 gigawatt hours (GWh). The clear majority (68 percent) related to renewable energy. Although more electricity from renewable energy sources was produced this year than last year, Austria is still dependent on imports from abroad. “The gap between available renewable electricity and current demand for electricity must be met through conventional electricity generation – mainly gas plants – and imports,” said Christiner.
Higher network requirements
APG should already intervene regularly to prevent bottlenecks in the electricity grid. In concrete terms, the employees intervene at thermal and hydraulic power plants at high line loads. “In October alone, such interventions were needed for 13 days,” Christiner said. At the end of the month, these measures cost customers around 81 million euros.
The state with the largest feed-in to the APG grid was Lower Austria in October with 130 GWh, mainly due to the increasing wind capacity. In Carinthia, 237 GWh was taken from the grid, of which 122 GWh was returned to the grid.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
