Concepto de Fuente de Inspiración Católica

Austrian energy planning is influenced at four levels of governance, supranational efforts at the European Union level, the national federal ‘Bund’ government, the nine provincial ‘Länder’ governments, and local governance (Hantsch, 1998; Lauber,

77 2005). Energy issues over recent decades have been divided amongst these levels, however, responsibilities at present lies predominantly with the federal government (Hantsch & Nährer, 2006). Current energy policies in Austria have fostered the diffusion of renewable technologies ‘largely by electricity market laws aimed at pursuing the goals stipulated by EU directives on renewables and Kyoto emission reduction obligations’ (Madlener, Kowalski, & Stagl, 2007, p. 1).

In 1994, the first support mechanism for renewable electricity was initiated for wind power, known at the ‘three year agreement’, this consisted of two measures (EVA, 1999). The first was a purchase-obligation deal for wind power produced at a higher than normal rate, this was guaranteed for three years. The second measure was the introduction of investment subsidies of up to 30% of investment cost coming from the Austrian government (Hantsch & Nährer, 2006). This first policy support for renewable energy did not result in success as by 1997 only 20 MW of wind energy was installed in Austria (IG Windkraft, 2008). This failure was principally due to the high costs of wind generation at the time and developers considering a three year price guarantee insufficient to cover costs.

However, in 1998 the Electricity Act (Elektrizitätswirtschafts-und Organisationsgesetz, ElWOG) initiated a new purchase-obligation scheme aimed at electricity from all renewable energy sources (EVA, 1999). In conjunction, feed-in tariffs (FITs) were introduced that had to be fixed by provincial ‘Länder’ Governors (Hantsch & Nährer, 2006). Each ‘Land’ could decide at which level they would support renewable energy support, subsequently this resulted in nine different sets of legislation throughout the country, with some offering high tariffs and others not. Länder with high feed-in level support experienced high renewable growth conversely for those with low levels growth lingered (Lauber, 2005). Furthermore in 1998, a new market- orientated scheme utilising a tendering system for wind energy was implemented. Potential investors in wind turbines were invited to submit their offers. The contracts were awarded to the most cost-effective projects, in accordance with the best-bidder principle. These tenders also included up to 30% investment subsidies (EVA, 1999).

Green Electricity Act 2002

In July 2002 the Austrian Parliament adopted new legislation to comply with the European Union Renewable Energy Directive 2001/77/EC via the new

78 Ökostromgesetz/Green Electricity Act (Lauber, 2005). Under the 2002 act, the power for deciding on support for renewable projects was transferring to the Federal Government. A main objective of having federal control of renewable energy support initiatives was to eliminate the multiplicity of regulations that existed between each Länder. This was done to produce uniform rules for eco-electricity enforcing a fairer more efficient way of developing renewable energy throughout Austria (Lauber, 2005). In addition, the act fixed minimum percentage targets for renewable sources of electricity to the year 2008, encouraging the sector to increase output to reflect the European Union renewable electricity target of 78.1 per cent required by 2010.

The act implemented a federally administered feed-in system for all renewable energy sources except large hydro combined with a purchase-obligation for green electricity (Lauber, 2005). The FITs were fixed for a period of 13 years at a price of 7.8 € cents for wind. It was applicable for projects that had planning permissions by the end of 2004 and that were operational by the end of 2006. These very high feed- in rates led to a great increase in wind power development, which made up most of the installed renewable electricity capacity developed in the period 2002-2005. From 95 MW of installed capacity at the end of 2001, wind power in Austria rocketed to 415 MW in 2003 and 607 MW by the end of 2004 (IG Windkraft, 2008). Overall, numerous new green electricity plants were set up and existing small scale hydroelectric plants were revitalised in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Permits were issued for about 940 MW wind power, 380 MW solid biomass, 70 MW biogas and more than 1100MW small hydro plants (BMWA, 2005).

However as a result of substantial expenditure (about €210 million to €300 million a year), the establishment of numerous green electricity plants also had a saturation effect. Some areas of industry became strong in their condemnation of what it saw as unnecessarily high levels of support for renewable energy (Lauber, 2005). In 2004 it was argued successfully that the cost which was likely to ‘balloon’ in coming years and was jeopardizing the competitiveness of Austrian industry and the national standard of living. As a result during 2005 an amendment to the 2002 act was written up and was released in 2006.

Green Electricity Act 2006

In 2006 the Austrian Parliament adopted an amendment to the Green Electricity Act. The amendment reviewed Austria’s support scheme for green electricity and strived

79 for higher efficiency requirements and more stringent budget constraints. The amendment retained a FIT system (although substantially reduced), but as far as new renewable electricity plants were concerned tough restrictions were put in place (Hantsch & Nährer, 2006). These changes include a cap on subsidies and a redistribution of the available funds among the individual technologies.

It was expected that steady growth in green energy capacity would continue through 2007 and a decline was not expected until 2008. However, during 2007 no new wind power growth was added and indications for 2008 suggest that trend will continue (pers. comm. Hantsch, 2007). The environmentalist Green Party has criticised the reduction of FITs as a diversion from Austria’s EU and International climate and energy commitments. The opponents of the renewable electricity system successfully translated their opposition into a strategy that has dramatically reduced any further renewable electricity growth, with the exception of biomass (Lauber, 2005).