Research, development and innovation

For Energie AG, research, development and innovation are key elements for actively addressing the challenges of the energy transition, ensuring security of supply, opening up new business opportunities and further developing the Group's own future orientation. All innovation activities taking place within the Group are in line with the current strategy. Defined innovation fields are the framework for all innovation activities. The focus of technical projects is on the integration of renewable energies, the transformation of grid infrastructure, the decarbonisation of heat supply and the development of sustainable circular economy solutions.

Particular attention is paid to the future heat supply using industrial waste heat, and optimising resource efficiency processes and material flows to conserve resources. In addition, initiatives in the field of hydrogen technology will be taken forward. Digitalisation and automation are leveraged in a targeted manner to manage processes intelligently, identify system correlations in a superior way, enable data-driven decisions, and improve interaction with customers.

Close cooperation with partners: researchers and businesses ensures that research results are translated into practical innovations. This is how Energie AG is promoting the decarbonisation of its business models and designs a sustainable, responsible energy supply.

The expansion of the Innovation Ecosystem of Energie AG, the cooperation with start-up companies and an open approach to innovation are essential elements of the innovation drive in the Group. In the 2024/25 fiscal year, Energie AG’s second international ‘Startup Innovation Challenge’ was successfully implemented and two specific tasks were completed in close cooperation with start-up companies. Three companies were also awarded the prize for their contributions to decarbonisation. In total, more than 300 start-ups from 57 countries submitted applications.

The development work of a central innovation team in the ‘Group Innovation’ holding unit for the management and further development of innovation management in the Energie AG Group continues to make inroads. In addition to providing support for investments in start-up funds and participating in partner events such as the ‘Innovation Week’ of Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences, the new ‘Innovation Circle’ format was introduced. This is a low-key exchange format, which stimulates innovation and future planning.

The ‘Innovation Board’, now established, is a collegiate body with diverse perspectives which promotes and supports innovation projects throughout the Group. It maintains an overview and ensures transparency for all innovation activities. Due to this, it proved possible to implement a digital construction twin for the Ebensee pumped-storage power plant during the reporting period. This digital twin is the central basis for further use cases, especially for the use of simulations and optimisations.

The development activities of Wertstatt 8 GmbH - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energie AG - focus on the innovative fields of the Group. During the reporting period, new ideas in the field of energy efficiency were developed and validated, with the aim of identifying unused building renovation potentials and reducing the cost of refurbishment. The ‘Zusa’ product has implemented a sustainability assistant based on artificial intelligence (AI) with an integrated marketplace that helps people make informed and sustainable decisions in their daily lives.

In fiscal year 2024/25, the following projects aimed at furthering research, development and innovation activities (non-exhaustive list):

Future Heat Highway

The ‘Future Heat Highway – Infrastructure for the Heat Transition’ project, launched in the 2024/25 fiscal year, aims to develop trans-regional district heating pipelines, allowing the efficient use of industrial waste heat and renewable heat sources in four Austrian industrial regions and its distribution to several industrial regions in Austria. In the scope of industry transformation, the analysis of how existing and future district heating networks, seasonal storage, biomass, industrial processes and waste heat sources can be linked is in progress, so that district heating needs will be fully provisioned from renewable sources as of 2050. In addition to technical planning and evaluation, roll-out plans will be drawn up for the Linz (central area), Styria (Murtal and Mürztal including Graz), Salzkammergut and St. Pölten regions. Through this networking and utilisation of waste heat, biomass, heat storage and prosumer models (industry feeding in or drawing heat), the project aims to reduce CO₂ emissions, reduce energy imports and make the supply of heat more sustainable, efficient and robust.

GPOil - EBS pyrolysis

The aim of the ‘GPOIL’ - Chemical Recycling of Plastics - project is to convert low-quality substitute fuels - mainly plastic waste which has previously been thermally recovered - into high-quality raw materials through an innovative pyrolysis process. These pyrolysis oils are intended for use as base materials for new polyolefins, enabling reintroduction into plastic production, for packaging for example. One core element of the project is a laboratory and experimental batch pyrolysis reactor that converts small amounts of different input materials into pyrolysis oil, coke and gas fractions. Initial experimental results show that high-quality oil fractions can be generated by adjusting process parameters. The next step is to examine the scalability of the process to an industrial scale. In the long term, this will contribute towards closing the plastic cycles and reducing fossil fuels.

Use of AI

In the 2024/25 fiscal year, Energie AG conducted several feasibility studies on the use of Large Language Models (LLM) and successfully introduced the ‘MIA’ chatbot in the Group in April 2025. ‘MIA’ stands for ‘Employee Information Assistant’ and links internal knowledge sources with modern LLM technology to help employees search for information, generate texts, and learn. Particularly in the on-boarding process, MIA makes it easier for new colleagues to get started, answers frequently asked questions and boosts efficiency in everyday working life through smart information processing. Customer service is also using AI, and a digital assistant in the form of a voicebot is used for telephony. The voicebot understands the concerns of customers at home and offers the quickest way to solve them. Simple recurrent tasks are performed directly and without waiting time by the voicebot, while complex tasks are identified and directly transferred to the relevant employees. The goal is to develop the voicebot into an AI agent which can make autonomous decisions, build an expanded context understanding, and thereby engage in more complex processes in human-like dialogues. In addition, specifications have been developed for further AI applications as part of a Group-wide digitalisation project.