Stegenwald power plant: start of construction in 2023 – salzburg.ORF.at
The two projects are part of a 252 million euro investment program that the supervisory board launched on Tuesday.
Stegenwald: Now it’s quick
Just a few years ago, the Salzach run-of-river power plant in Stegenwald was shelved because construction was not economically viable due to the low electricity prices at the time. Things should be quick now: the construction machinery will be up and running as early as the first quarter of 2023, Salzburg AG announced on Tuesday after the supervisory board meeting.
The river is now to be built near Stegenwald over a length of 3.3 kilometers. The Salzburg AG supervisory board chairman, Governor Wilfried Haslauer (ÖVP), emphasized that a project like this power plant needs so long to be built that should no longer take place: “We are working on a legislative package so that we can accelerate it. Now is the time for us to become more self-sufficient, autonomous and self-powered with renewable energy.”
Start of construction despite objection from the environmental ombudsman
For Stegenwald, all the decisions are legally binding, even if the State Environment Ombudsman (LUA) continues to fight the nature conservation decision. Environmental lawyer Gishild Schaufler warns that the construction of the power plant will destroy the last free stretch of the middle Salzach. However, your objection does not have a suspensive effect, says Haslauer: “This project will definitely go through in the long run, we are convinced of that. In the event of a repeal, it can only happen that one or the other condition has to be improved.”
Green light for Stegenwald power plant
Green agrees to power plant construction
The Greens on the Supervisory Board of Salzburg AG approved the 100 million Stegenwald project on Tuesday – despite the objection of the State Environmental Ombudsman’s Office: “We need a new boost and more steps for renewable energies”, the Green Deputy Governor and Salzburg AG Supervisory Board member Martina Berthold. “This power plant is one of many small pieces of the puzzle.”
The Stegenwald power plant is intended to increase the proportion of renewable energy in the portfolio of Salzburg AG, General Director Leonhard Schitter added: “We will gain another ten percent.” 14.3 megawatts. A construction period of a good two years is expected. The total costs amount to around 100 million euros – costs that Salzburg AG shares with the association. The investment should pay for itself in 46 years.
Construction in Obersulzbachtal from April
Construction of the Sulzau power plant in Neukirchen am Großvenediger is also scheduled to begin next April. Here, Salzburg AG has the Neukirchen lighting cooperative as a partner. The plant on the Obersulzbach is operated with water from the existing Blausee dam. Up to nine cubic meters of water per second are collected there and fed into the powerhouse through a two-kilometer-long pipe.
Two turbines generate up to 18.4 GWh of electricity per year with an output of 6 MW. Here, too, construction will take about two years. In 2023, the two power plants will cost a total of 36 million euros.
Biomass heating plant in Siezenheim connected to the grid in autumn
Salzburg AG is already further along in the construction of the Siezenheim II biomass thermal power station, which is scheduled to go online next October and supply around 8,000 households.
At the same time, the construction of the district heating south-west link, which started this year, will actually take place. In 2023, the households at the airport center and near the Stiegl brewery are to be connected to the district heating network, and in 2026 the connection of the districts of Maxglan and Himmelreich to the district heating network is to be completed. Of the total costs of EUR 24.6 million, around EUR 3.5 million will be needed in 2023.