Security and quality of supply

The planning and implementation of projects focuses on the reliable and uninterrupted delivery of all services, including during a crisis.

A major contribution to the supply security is made by Energie AG’s power plants and Netz OÖ GmbH’s electricity grid. On the one hand, Energie AG operates a power plant pool for balancing energy, making it a significant contributor to the primary and secondary balancing in Austria. On the other hand, the congestion management of Energie AG’s power plants, and the CCGT power plant in Timelkam in particular, make a significant contribution to supporting the grid.

Owing to the war between Russia and Ukraine, the Austrian government and E-Control Austria are currently making preparations to further improve the security of supply. They include far-reaching measures such as the provisioning of a government-mandated reserve stock of natural gas, measures that facilitate the substitution of natural gas, and many others. Energie AG is also implementing measures to improve the security of supply and is not only focusing its precautions on gas customers, but also places a particular focus on assuring the secure supply with district heat. Keeping the CCGT power plant in Timelkam available for the energy market and congestion management is another important contribution to safeguarding the security of supply. The situation with regard to provisioning for eventualities is good when seen in conjunction with the measures introduced by the government, uncertainties do however arise from the difficulties in anticipating gas deliveries from Russia, Germany’s exit from nuclear energy, and insufficient power plant capacities in France. An EU-wide coordinated approach in the current energy crisis would be of great importance for the security of supply but also with regard to the development of energy prices.

The black start and island operation capability of power plants allows for these plants to be started up without access to an external electricity supply. In fiscal year 2021/2022, Netz OÖ GmbH has successfully carried out a number of inspections of the black start and island operation functions with the generation resources available for a grid restoration.

Netz OÖ GmbH is conducting regular training with grid simulators to evaluate coordinated grid restoration scenarios. Regularly recurring functional testing of the generation plants relevant to a grid restoration along with testing of the operational processes are an important element in assuring the security of supply.

In the current energy crisis, triggered by the war between Russia and Ukraine, measures to improve the security of supply with natural gas are being evaluated. They include an optimisation of fuel procurement, additional natural gas reserves in storage, as well as the harnessing of potentials for conversion and substitution of natural gas. The Group is also preparing the substitution of natural gas in response to the expected 1st Regulation on Natural Gas Steering Measures.

The expansion and strengthening of the grid infrastructure combined with increasing energy storage capacities (e.g. pumped-storage power plants) is intended to quickly and fully buffer peak loads and compensate for the volatile infeed volumes from decentralised generation systems that produce energy from renewable sources.

In the area of digitalisation, the fibre-optic networks is being expanded further as a prerequisite for a full-coverage supply of all regions in Upper Austria with internet access at the speed of light.

Energie AG is taking steps to secure a high-quality supply with drinking water and waste water treatment services, especially in regions affected by water shortages, and also contributes technological know-how in the area of waste water treatment that will be used to create a solid infrastructure (e.g. leak localisation).

The Waste Management Segment of Energie AG Group covers the entire value creation chain from waste collection to sorting and recycling/management on the highest technical level. The services are geared closely to the needs of residential, commercial/industrial and municipal customers.

The unconditional assurance of security of supply, including under extraordinary conditions (threat of supply shortages on the energy market, dramatic price increases, the COVID-19 pandemic), and the ensuing strengthening of the Company’s resilience are among the top priorities of Energie AG Group.

The impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine on the energy markets in fiscal year 2021/2022 led to the installation of a dedicated taskforce that convenes weekly. The aim of the taskforce is to develop appropriate technical, commercial and communicative responses that are commensurate in light of the supply and market situation. A weekly situation briefing and forecast is compiled on the basis of the information received from the environment and important business units.

A task force that monitors the ongoing pandemic developments and devises the necessary measures has been in place since the 2019/2020 fiscal year. Special precautions to warrant the operation of critical infrastructure were taken and are explained in further detail in the section covering the social initiatives during hefty turbulences on the energy markets and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Security of supply is the fundamental basis for general business growth, job creation and quality of life. Energie AG’s services are a major driver of Upper Austria’s international competitiveness as a business location.

Netz OÖ’s asset management efforts are aimed at achieving the highest possible levels of efficiency in all activities in terms of reliability, quality and cost-effectiveness.

To assess the ability to perform and the security and quality of supply, key performance indicators such as available grid capacity, grid reliability, grid interruptions and their causes (interruption time >3 minutes) are determined on an annual basis. The Group then uses these findings to establish options for future action in the context of grid maintenance and expansion.

Netz OÖ GmbH operates an electricity grid consisting of 33,445 km of power lines (previous year: 33,185 km), in addition to a 5,634 km gas grid (previous year: 5,624 km). These reliable and modern grids warrant the secure energy supply for more than 575,000 grid customers.

The electricity grid’s supply reliability, measured in terms of service-related unavailability (ASIDI; “Average System Interruption Duration Index”), was 44.53 min/a in calendar year 2021 (2020: 50.82 min/a). It was 1.10 [1/a] (2020: 1.52 [1/a]) when measured on the basis of the ASIFI (“Average System Interruption Frequency Index”), with the statistic in both cases disregarding regionally exceptional events. The customer-related system unavailability (SAIDI – “System Average Interruption Duration Index”) stood at 52.89 min/a (2020: 53.58 min/a), while the customer-related average interruption frequency (SAIFI - “System Average Interruption Frequency”) was 1.34 [1/a] (2020: 1.68 [1/a]). The weather in calendar year 2021 featured a series of strong thunderstorms between June and August. As a result of the geographic realities of the supply territory of Netz OÖ GmbH, the unavailability figures in Upper Austria are usually higher than the national average for all of Austria. The availability of the gas grid in calendar year 2021 was unchanged from the previous years at 99.99%.

In the generation unit, the Group takes a holistic approach to optimise technical availability, starting with the planning and designing phase of power plants as well as by systematically developing maintenance strategies as part of due diligence measures.

In addition to the environmental measures adopted during plant design, flood protection improvements also play a crucial role in Energie AG’s run-of-river power plant construction projects. The individual steps to be taken during day-to-day operation are set out in the officially approved workplace regulations.

The supply reliability for customer connections in the fibre-optic network is determined by analysing the fault resolution times from the trouble ticket system. In the reporting period, it amounted to 99.98% (previous year: 99.99%). The fault resolution time designates the timespan between receipt of the fault report and the resolution of the fault. As of the end of the reporting period, the Group-owned fibre-optic network in the backbone and business customer areas had a physical length of 5,820 km. The difference to the previous year’s figure results from the demerger of the FTTH fibre-optic network to BBOÖ, see Business model, Organisational structure of the Group.

Water supply availability in the Czech Republic Segment is constantly at or above 99.9%. Network quality in the drinking water sector fluctuates from year to year between 0.2 and 0.3 cases of damage per kilometre per year, mainly due to weather conditions in winter. Network quality in the waste water sector is measured at around 0.1 grid interruptions per kilometre per year.

In regions affected by climate change-related drought and increasing water scarcity, Energie AG secures the supply through subsidiaries that supply drinking water via tankers and cisterns. One measure to improve security of supply is the interregional integration of water supply systems. This enables drinking water from areas with surplus water to be sent to areas suffering from shortages. Energie AG’s subsidiaries also support their contractual partners in projects aimed at securing resources with extensive know-how in the area of water management.

The operational processes of the Waste Management Segment were frequently adapted to the prevailing requirements in order to warrant the safe and reliable collection and management of all types of waste during the COVID-19 pandemic.