Grid Segment

Statutory and regulatory framework in the Grid Segment

The Renewable Energies Expansion Act, announced on 27 July 2021, also brought about numerous innovations for the Grid Segment. The required adjustments to processes and tools were therefore initiated during the reporting period.

As an operator of essential services in the sense of the Austrian Network and Information System Security Act (NISG) , Netz OÖ GmbH is required to comply with stricter requirements for the information security of its ICT services (network and information systems) and also to demonstrate its compliance. The implementation measures within the Group include the introduction of an information security management system in line with ISO/IEC, taking into account ISO 27019, the NIS fact sheets and the utility minimum standard of the electricity industry. Preparations for certification of Netz OÖ GmbH in line with ISO 27001 are in progress. In the reporting period, a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) was appointed at Netz OÖ GmbH for this purpose.

The grid utilisation fees in the electricity sector increased by between 0.2% and 1.7% as at 1 January 2021. This increase is a consequence of the necessary investing activities in the grids due to stricter requirements. The regulatory parameters established remained stable in the 4th regulatory period.

In the gas sector, the grid usage fees for consumers at grid level 3 fell by 4.3% on 1 January 2021, while those for consumers of grid level 2 increased by 2.9%.

The general economic conditions for gas have been defined for the 3rd regulatory period since 1 January 2018, but the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and the Federal Chamber of Labour have objected against the stipulations made by the regulatory authority. The decision for 2020 is still pending. A decision for the years 2018 and 2019 was issued by the Federal Administrative Court last year. This decision defined the regulatory framework, which is tantamount to a deterioration for the industry compared to the original decision. The parameters of the 3rd regulatory period remain stable on this reduced basis. The roll-up of fiscal years 2018 and 2019 was reflected in the 2021 rates.

Business development in the Grid Segment

The Grid Segment generated sales revenues of EUR 380.9 million in the reporting period. This represents a moderate increase of 3.9% compared with the previous year's sales revenues. In fiscal year 2020/2021, the EBIT of the Grid Segment amounted to EUR 37.2 million and was EUR 0.3 million up on the previous year's EBIT of EUR 36.9 million .

In terms of operational activities, the regulatory tariff increase in the electricity sector and volume increases had a positive effect on sales revenues in the reporting period. Higher upstream grid costs and grid losses, as well as increased expenses for maintenance, personnel costs and depreciation, have been offset by higher sales revenues, resulting in a moderate overall improvement in results.

Electricity and gas grid as the backbone of the Upper Austrian supply infrastructure

Electricity grid distribution volume to end customers

in GWh

In the 2020/2021 fiscal year, 8,231 GWh of electricity was distributed to end users from the electricity grid (previous year: 7,677 GWh). This represents an increase of 554 GWh (+7.2%) compared with the previous year. The volume increase mainly resulted from the industrial and commercial customer sector, which has recovered slightly from the COVID-related declines in the previous year. As of 30 September 2021, Netz OÖ GmbH supplied approx. 517,000 active customer installations.

A series of summer thunderstorms with hail and heavy rain in June, July and August 2021 posed a challenge for grid operations. What was unusual here was not the individual events themselves, but the number of consecutive events in a short period of time. In this situation, the 110 kV high-voltage grid once again proved to be the strong and reliable backbone of the Upper Austrian electricity supply.

 In the 2020/2021 fiscal year, the activities focused on the consistent implementation of the “Electricity Grid Master Plan Upper Austria 2028” (Stromnetz-Masterplan Oberösterreich 2028) in addition to regular grid upgrade and expansion measures. After delays in previous years due to the extremely difficult project environment, the “Alm- und Kremstal electricity supply” line was commissioned at the end of June 2021. In the “Pramtal south electricity supply” project, more than 50% of the line construction work was completed. The detailed routing in the preferred corridor is available for the “Mühlviertel electricity supply” project; an expert dialogue between the project applicants and the IG Landschaftsschutz Mühlviertel (IGLM; environmental protection action group) has not yet been concluded. The environmental impact submission (EIS) for the “completeness check” in the “Central Region Upper Austria Electricity Supply” joint project was submitted to the appropriate authorities under the leadership of Austrian Power Grid AG with the participation of LINZ NETZ GmbH; the submission for the EIA procedure is planned for December 2021. In October 2020, work began on the construction of a new substation in Hörsching while work started on the Ohlsdorf substation in August 2021.

The programme to replace overhead medium-voltage lines that are particularly susceptible to disruption with underground cable proceeded in the year under review. A further 7 kilometres of overhead power lines were replaced by underground cables.

Due to the increased integration of local electricity generation facilities, ensuring voltage quality for grid customers on the low-voltage grid remains a big challenge. The installed capacity from photovoltaics is already around 396 MW (previous year: 283 MW) with around 30,100 connected systems (previous year: 24,100 systems). Lessons learned from research and development projects are being successfully adopted for efficient grid integration.

Gas grid distribution volume to end customers

in GWh

The gas volume transported for end customers in the Group's own grid increased by 0.9% to 19,379 GWh year-on-year in the 2020/2021 fiscal year (previous year 19,205 GWh). In the high-pressure area, gas volumes dropped, primarily due to lower proprietary electricity generation by industrial operations and power plants. In contrast, the volumes in the household and commercial sector were significantly above the previous year's level due to the higher demand for heating, resulting from the lower average temperature in the heating period of the reporting period.

In addition to the standard grid expansion and grid connections for larger business customers, extensive upgrades were carried out at the RS185 Heitzing, RS119 Lindach and RS441 Schärding reduction stations in the past fiscal year.

Three high-pressure natural gas pipelines over a total length of 79.8 km were investigated using intelligent pigging. Various repairs to high-pressure pipelines were carried out, and four pig locks were replaced or retrofitted.

In the Grid Segment, the implementation of a workforce management system, “DigiWork”, continued during the reporting period, with the aim of implementing further digitalisation steps. Following completion of the smart meter roll-out in the Netz OÖ GmbH concession area in the 2019/2020 fiscal year, a smart meter upgrade project was launched in the reporting period in order to continue to successfully support new market models such as energy communities.

At the beginning of the 2021/2022 fiscal year, the “Metering” department entrusted with this project was transferred from Energie AG Oberösterreich Telekom GmbH (Telekom GmbH) to Netz OÖ GmbH. The organisational unit mainly handles metering tasks in line with ElWOG, in particular the smart electricity meters for Netz OÖ GmbH, and directly performs one of the tasks assigned to the regulated grid operator. The metering tasks for the Gas Segment have been in the Netz OÖ GmbH scope since the 2015/2016 fiscal year. To avoid an organisational change interfering with the demanding smart meter roll-out process, the metering tasks for the electricity sector were transferred after the roll-out had been completed at the turn of the 2021/2022 fiscal year. This means that these billing-relevant activities for electricity and gas have been united under the umbrella of the grid operator.

The first “Technical Safety Management in the Electricity Grid” certification and the first “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)” certification in line with ONR 192500 were successfully completed in the past fiscal year. The audits for the existing certifications in line with EN ISO 9001 and ÖVGW QS GNB 200 were also successfully completed.