Energy Segment

Generation

Energie AG’s generation unit is responsible for developing, building, operating and maintaining electricity and heat generation facilities and heat distribution systems.

Energie AG is committed to using renewable energy sources in an environmentally friendly manner and is building and operating hydropower plants, thermal power plants and heat supply facilities, including with the use of biomass fuels. The Company is also committed to the expansion of wind power and photovoltaic power plants. Energie AG furthermore supports research into alternative electricity generation.

Steady expansion of renewable energy

The further expansion of the existing generation portfolio from renewable sources – especially hydroelectric power, wind and photovoltaics – is a strategic development area. Various attractive projects are currently being developed to decision-making maturity. By using biomass, geothermal energy and industrial waste heat, Energie AG has for many years pursued a decarbonisation strategy in the area of heat supply and thus plays a pioneering role as a sustainable utility in its market sectors.

Hydroelectric power

Hydroelectric power is the most important pillar of Austria's electricity supply. The nation has set itself the target of generating an additional 5 TWh from this energy source by the year 2030. The largest part of the electricity procurement in Energie AG's power plant portfolio is also generated by hydroelectric power plants. Upper Austria has already reached a very high degree of resource utilisation of more than 90% in this area.

Energie AG operates 43 of its own hydropower plants with a total capacity of around 280 MW and around 1,150 GWh of standard production capacity (previous year: 1,150 GWh). In addition, the Group holds procurement rights to hydropower plants with a capacity of around 380 MW and around 1,410 GWh of standard production capacity (previous year: 1,390 GWh). The increased standard production capacity results from the new determination made by Verbund Hydro Power GmbH for the Danube power plants on the basis of historic actual data.

With its hydropower plants, Energie AG is an active player on the electricity market and also delivers important grid services, particularly including the supply of balancing energy.

Photovoltaics

Energie AG Group is operating 71 PV power plants (previous year: 58) with an output of approximately 12 MW (previous year: 10 MW) and a standard production capacity of 13 GWh (previous year: 11 GWh).

Over the last couple of years, the expansion of photovoltaic power has been pushed forward intensively across all of Austria. Energie AG has extensive experience in this field and constructed the first research and demonstration plants several decades ago. An important milestone was the 1 MW solar park in Eberstalzell commissioned in the year 2010.

Wind power

Wind power facilities in Austria are predominantly installed in the more windy states of Lower Austria (NÖ) and Burgenland. In addition to the facilities in Munderfing, Upper Austria, Energie AG is also invested in wind power facilities located in the municipalities of Trautmannsdorf (NÖ) and Scharndorf (NÖ). Together with local partners, the Energie AG Group owns interest stakes in 13 wind power facilities via subsidiaries and thereby makes an active contribution to achieving the climate targets. The wind power facilities have a proportional output of 15 MW (previous year: 13 MW) and a standard production capacity of around 36 GWh (previous year: 31 GWh). The increase from the previous year is attributable to the wind power facility in the municipality of Scharndorf, which has a proportional output of 2 MW and a standard production capacity of 4 GWh.

In the 2019/2020 fiscal year, 76.4% of Energie AG’s proprietary electricity procurement came from renewable sources (previous year: 70.8%), with around 70.4% of this coming from hydroelectric power (previous year: 66.0%) and the remainder from PV systems, wind power, biomass and biogenic waste.

For more information about energy generation, see the Key performance indicators section of the Group Management Report as well as the Energy Segment.

Thermal power plants & district heating

Energie AG has seven locations ¹⁾Riedersbach, Timelkam, Wels, Redlham, Kirchdorf, Steyr, Laakirchen for thermal power plants with an output of around 400 MW_e and a standard production capacity of up to 2,260 GWh ²⁾Including Timelkam CCGT plant (70%) and Riedersbach (location only). The power plant with the highest output in Upper Austria is the CCGT (combined-cycle gas turbine) power plant in Timelkam with an output of 405 MW_e ³⁾Timelkam CCGT plant (100%). It warrants the necessary flexibility and a highly efficient partial load operation that allows for a congestion management that can stabilise the electricity grid. As renewable energy proliferates, flexible power plant capacity is increasingly important. The Timelkam plant is particularly important to the control area manager when it comes to security of supply.

The last of the coal was burnt up at the Riedersbach power plant in 2016. Since then, only natural gas and biomass have been used to generate electricity and district heating at the Riedersbach and Timelkam sites. The biomass power plant at Timelkam (capacity: 9.5 MW_e, 28 MW_t) uses forest and herbaceous biomass to generate green electricity and district heating.

Energie AG operates 12 district heating distribution networks (previous year: 11) and manages 598 heating systems under service contracts on behalf of customers (previous year: 589). A large share of the district heating is generated from highly efficient CHP (combined heat and power) plants and biomass power plants. As well as operating geothermal plants, the use of industrial waste heat is also increasing in importance.

All thermal electricity and heat generation plants of Energie AG exhibit a very high degree of fuel utilisation and, in turn, efficient use of primary energy resources.

Conserving resources is more than simply a focus area in the operation of these plants; it begins as soon as infrastructure facilities are built and spans their entire useful life. The environmental impact of new production and supply facilities is kept as low as possible with the close involvement of affected stakeholders and the support of outside experts. A forward-thinking maintenance strategy ensures high system availability and maximises system lifespans.

Increasing energy efficiency in electricity and heat production, distribution grids, and customers’ energy and water consumption is a permanent focus of efforts to achieve sustainability.

The Group ensures that thermal power plants and heat generation processes remain environmentally friendly by using state-of-the-art practices, which are regularly reviewed both internally and externally. The use of combined heat and power (combined electricity and heat generation) plays an important role in improving efficiency. The heat is used for industrial process heating or district heating for the industrial sector, commercial applications and household customers. Efficiency gains are also realised via environmental and other audits, maintenance and repairs, and internal improvement processes as part of ongoing management efforts. The Group is continuing to expand the use of heat.

In 2019, contracts to increase heat sales volumes were concluded for the Cogeneration-Kraftwerke Management Oberösterreich GmbH location. A district heating network was constructed in Gmunden. The waste heat from an established industrial cement company is used to supply district heating to the region. There is also a research project conducted by Energie AG, the Technical University of Vienna, the Energy Institute at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz (JKU) and other industry partners that investigates the extraction of high temperatures incl. heat transportation to industrial customers for the supply of process energy. For more information on this project, please see the Group Management Report in section Research, development and innovation.

Energie AG regularly obtains expert opinions to verify that its larger facilities are operating with high efficiency.

In terms of ensuring security of supply, Energie AG’s fleet of thermal power stations is playing an important role in the transition to clean and renewable energy. They can balance the volatile feed-in of renewable energy and act as a reserve in the case of grid congestion. Biomass CHP plants also make an important contribution to the use of renewable energy.

“Decarbonising fuel” is a long-term goal for society.

This can be achieved through increased use of biomass and by “greening the gas” (blending natural gas with renewable gas, such as using methanation or hydrogen produced from renewables). Energie AG’s portfolio of power plants and district heat generation facilities provide a solid foundation for further developments in this area.

Biodiversity

The preservation of valuable habitats, biodiversity and water body morphology are essential aspects of project development at Energie AG. A wide array of environmental considerations are addressed during the approval process for power plant construction.

Energie AG is also implementing measures to improve ecological conditions and reduce the environmental footprint (such as fish ladders).

Fish bypasses have been built at Energie AG’s run-of-river power plants and pumped storage power plants in accordance with the Water Framework Directive.

With over 20 fishing rights in Upper Austria and Salzburg, Energie AG is one of Upper Austria's largest fisheries and not only supports the natural reproduction of the fish stock, but also secures the naturally authentic population density by means of ecological breeding programmes and regular stocking with native fish species.

Sales

The energy savings that result from giving well-founded energy advice are a significant contribution to environmental protection and cost reduction efforts. Energy efficiency and advice are among Energie AG's core competencies. Most of the Company's customer advisers in Austria are certified European Energy Managers (EUREM) who can advise their customers on-site, e.g. on trade fairs and in the business customer sector, on the basis of concrete analyses.

As a provider of energy audits in accordance with the Federal Energy Efficiency Act that is registered with the National Energy Efficiency Monitoring Centre, Energie AG Oberösterreich Vertrieb GmbH (Vertrieb GmbH) and its wholly owned subsidiary Ingenieurbüro IfEA Institut für Energieausweis GmbH employ 10 listed energy auditors, making the Company one of the largest providers of this service in Austria.

For the most part, Energie AG supplies its customers with environmentally friendly hydroelectric power. The energy mix and product label “hydroelectric power” of Energie AG Oberösterreich Vertrieb GmbH presented in the following relates to the 2018/2019 fiscal year ⁴⁾Fuel mix disclosure figures as defined by the Austrian Electricity Industry and Organisation Act (Elektrizitätswirtschafts- und -organisationsgesetz; ElWOG), § 78 onwards, were not yet available for the 2019/2020 fiscal year at the time this report was written..

Fuel mix disclosure

The majority of Energie AG's private and business customers use the product mix “hydroelectric power”:

Product mix for hydroelectric power

Products “Ökostrom Klassik”, “Ökostrom Smart Nachtaktiv”, “Ökostrom Wärme”

A new product world was introduced on 1 October 2019. With the exception of the compulsory allocation of Austrian green electricity by OeMAG-Abwicklungsstelle für Ökostrom AG (approx. 20%), the products are sourced exclusively from generation facilities in Upper Austria. The product mix for green electricity in Upper Austria presents as follows:

Product mix for green electricity

Product “Ökostrom Plus”

Energy efficiency

The Energie AG Group engages in promotional funding and campaigns to encourage efficient and sustainable energy use. The reporting in the area “energy efficiency” differs from the previous year. The values now relate to the last full calendar year available on the reporting date – i.e. in the 2019/2020 fiscal year they relate to calendar year 2019. This allows for comparability with the statutory requirements under the Federal Energy Efficiency Act, which prescribes an analysis on a calendar year basis.

The values presented in the table relate to measures taken by Energie AG Oberösterreich Vertrieb GmbH or the customer. Due to the fact that Energie AG Oberösterreich Vertrieb GmbH has, thanks to its pioneering role, has already met its obligations that result from the Federal Energy Efficiency Act 2015 for many years in advance, the measures in subsequent years may fall short of the required savings.

Energy efficiency at the customer

Energy AG motivates its customers to an efficient use of energy. Energy-saving LED lamps are handed out to customers at the energy saving trade fair and at Energie AG's regional roadshows. With the energy saving help package initiative, Energie AG provides free packages that contain energy saving products (LED lamps, time switches, standby killers, radiator vents, water-saving shower heads etc.) and helpful information on how to save energy to charities, who distribute them to recipients of welfare benefits and other persons in need across Upper Austria. In calendar year 2019, Energie AG's new household appliance replacement campaign resulted in the replacement of 310 inefficient household appliances.

Accelerating energy-efficient technologies is an Energie AG priority area. The installation of efficient heat pumps is supported through monetary assistance, energy advisory services and demonstration systems. In calendar year 2019, this measure resulted in the installation of 65 heat pumps (previous year: 244) in Energie AG's service area, yielding total energy savings of around 0.7 GWh (previous year: 4.2 GWh). In addition to that, the campaign “moving beyond oil” was launched at the beginning of the 2019/2020 fiscal year.

In gas sales, the “Energy-Saving Package” was successfully continued with the aim to foster the installation, renewal and conversion of heating systems to condensing boiler technology for household customers. As a result, around 254 heaters were converted to natural gas or replaced (previous year: 259), saving around 3.1 GWh of energy (calculated based on EEffG, previous year: 3.7 GWh) in 2019.

Heat contracting solutions for efficient heating systems were another focus area. The increased use of biomass, geothermal energy and industrial waste heat is particularly effective in promoting regional and renewable energies in the production of heat.

The implementation of customer projects, especially in the shape of PV systems, is becoming increasingly important as well. Energie AG is planning to increasingly harness its extensive expertise and experience in this area. By offering PV contracting solutions, it enables business customers to harness the benefits of environmentally friendly electricity generation using photovoltaic without having to finance the installation of the system or take care of its operation.

Vertrieb GmbH is operating a total of 51 PV contracting systems with an output of around 8.4 MWp on the roofs of companies in Upper Austria. In the 2019/2020 fiscal year, these systems generated a total output of 5.9 GWh.

¹⁾ Riedersbach, Timelkam, Wels, Redlham, Kirchdorf, Steyr, Laakirchen

²⁾ Including Timelkam CCGT plant (70%) and Riedersbach (location only)

³⁾ Timelkam CCGT plant (100%)

⁴⁾Fuel mix disclosure figures as defined by the Austrian Electricity Industry and Organisation Act (Elektrizitätswirtschafts- und -organisationsgesetz; ElWOG), § 78 onwards, were not yet available for the 2019/2020 fiscal year at the time this report was written.