How much clean electricity can we generate in Austria if we use 2% of the country’s surface area to generate energy from wind power? These and other burning questions are answered by the current study “Austria’s wind potential with varying degrees of land use“
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which was carried out by Energiewerkstatt on behalf of IG Windkraft.
Only a fraction of the potential is currently being used in Austria, just over 0.2 %. If the use of wind energy were to be expanded to 2% of the national territory, significantly more electricity could be generated than is currently consumed in the country. With existing technology and taking into account all criteria such as the required distances to residential areas, roads, power lines, etc., even 1.5 times Austria’s electricity requirements would be possible – on just 3.1% of the country’s surface area. At the same time, 99% of the estimated area can still be used for agriculture, as paths and foundations only take up a fraction of the space. In Germany, the 2% is already a legal requirement, but not – yet – in Austria.