Austria’s experience with green recovery

At the beginning of September, on the initiative of the PAEW Association of Environmental Professionals, a working visit to Austria was held. The delegation includes representatives of the Ministry of Rehabilitation, the Ministry of Energy, the Office of the President, specialists of Ukrenergo, Atmosphere, DTEK, Center LTD, Astarta-Kyiv, Zakhidnadraservice, Energoatom, as well as scientists and experts.

During the visit, the participants had the opportunity to visit Austrian state institutions and industrial enterprises, including: the Ministry of Climate Affairs of Austria, the Municipality of Vienna, the Hydrogen Partnership Austria Agency, the Simmering Power Plant, the Voestalpine Metallurgical Plant, the “Norske Skog” enterprise and the Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation.

Meeting with the Austrian Federal Minister for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology Leonora Gewessler was covered in the previous news Ukrainian delegation in Vienna: strengthening international cooperation for decarbonization and environmental transformation

The next meeting was held with representatives of the Municipality of Vienna, which implements many projects on energy efficiency and the transition to green technologies. The City Hall of Vienna, and Austria as a whole, is trying to completely abandon Russian gas. And  become climate neutral by 2040.

What is planned for this?

• Optimize processes, losses and transmission of energy carriers;
• Integrate RES systems into the city’s energy system, in particular through the installation of solar panels on the roofs of buildings (by the way, to date, they have already been installed on the City Hall building) energy from biomass, wind energy and energy from waste incineration;
• To support a competitive energy supply market. Currently, there are 25 companies providing energy supply services.
• Promote frugal energy consumption and investments in green energy.

The experience of the Agency that promotes the use of green hydrogen in Austria and implements the National Hydrogen Strategy – Hydrogen Partnership Austria – was highlighted in another meeting. According to the Strategy, by 2030, Austria plans to build 1 GW (currently 13.2 MW) of electrolysis capacity and increase the production of green hydrogen to 3.5 TW (currently 46.2 GW).

The next visit took place at the largest power plant Wien Energie provides in Vienna with a capacity of 1,125 MW. Through agreements with Austria forest industry, a project on the use of biomass in a cogeneration plant is being implemented at the power plant, which provides heat to the residents of the city of Vienna.

Participants also had the opportunity to visit the Voestalpine metallurgical plant in Donawitz. Metallurgical plant processes optimized in an environmentally friendly direction. Energy efficiency and heat loss savings contribute to the preservation of the environment. Emissions of harmful gases from the smelter are cleaned and supplied to a powerful heat station, which covers 90% of the enterprise’s energy costs, and also provides heat to 1,100 homes in the settlement. Over the next 10 years, the company plans to switch to new electric smelting technology and build 2 hydroelectric power plants and a wind farm.

“These decisions will allow the company to become climate neutral. It turns out that there are metallurgical industries that not only cannot harm the environment, but also solve social problems, – Oleg Bota, director of Center LTD, shared his opinion. – It is worth noting that almost all projects are supported by the state support or tax benefits which enabling the country to move towards climate neutrality.”

Another meeting took place at the largest paper processing enterprise in Austria, Norske Skog.

In 2022, the enterprise built a waste processing plant (WTE) on its own territory, which 100% replaced the need for fossil fuel (gas) and ensured the enterprise’s energy independence. The most modern available technology from Norway enabled the company to process RDF fuel waste, own production waste and sludge from sewage treatment plants in nearby cities. The waste processing plant operates at a distance of 190 m from residential buildings, taking into account and complying with all the requirements of European directives on air protection.

“Adopting the latest experience from the European Union, you get hope that safe and useful waste management can be introduced in Ukraine as well,” – sums up Oleg Bota.

And at the end of the visit,  participants visited a pharmaceutical enterprise that produces cells and medical drugs. This is the Boehringer Ingelheim Global Corporation, which employs 53,000 people and has an annual capital turnover of $24 billion.

It is interesting that they invest half of it in R&D – new research on disease control. The enterprise has cell bank, a research center and its own production of cell cultures. This type of activity is extremely energy-intensive, and production depends on the stability of the energy system. To reduce the risks, Boehringer Ingelheim implemented a number of energy-efficient solutions: in 2019, it built an energy center that supplies heat, steam and cooling to all office spaces and laboratories centrally and disposes of safe industrial effluents. The center operates with lower maintenance costs than installations at each branch. The enterprise has implemented the ISO 50001 energy management system; conducted monitoring of energy losses per 1 m² of each production and office premises; optimized the hours of operation of the HVAC ventilation and air conditioning system; a Kinetic power pack (flywheel storage) was installed in 2023 to run an additional powerful 2 MW uninterruptible generator. This is a completely new technology that allows you to start the device in a second after a power outage, and also systematically teaches you to reduce energy consumption. The implemented energy saving solutions also contributed to the reduction of CO₂ emissions and the use of natural resources. By 2030, the company has set a goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions. Technology is evolving, so it is important to keep up with them, be environmentally, energetic and competitive, increase profits from energy efficiency and care for the environment.

We would like to remind you that Center LTD is one of the largest companies in Ukraine in the field of environmental consulting. The Company’s specialists are ready to undertake comprehensive support of your business and territories in matters of green restoration. You can find a full list of the Company’s services and work experience on the official website center-ltd.com.ua For professional advice, call: +38 096 781 05 37, +38 067 725 54 32, or send questions to: eco@center-ltd. com.ua

In order not to miss any relevant news, also subscribe to the Telegram channel of environmental news https://t.me/EnvRespBusiness