The federal government has set itself the goal of having 100 percent of Austria’s electricity come from renewable energies by 2030. Among other things, it is planned to install PV systems on one million roofs. The Federal Association Photovoltaic Austria (PVA) welcomes this programme as an important step towards the energy transition.
Use of roof potential needs PV-friendly framework conditions
The “One Million Roofs Programme” is a clear mandate to the federal provinces to take important further steps. With 2.4 million buildings, Austria supposedly has enough roof space for the production of solar electricity by means of photovoltaic (PV) systems, but under the current legal framework only a part of the building stock can actually be used. Technical, economic, ecological, social and above all bureaucratic factors dramatically reduce the roof potential. As a result, only one in five buildings can be equipped with a PV system, which means that just half of the “One Million Roofs Programme” can be implemented. This corresponds to an installed PV capacity of four gigawatts (GW) or 36 % of the targeted PV expansion of 11 GW by 2030. In order to make the fundamentally high potential of roof areas in Austria usable, existing framework conditions must be “dusted off” and made more PV-friendly, and better information bases must be created. A consistent dismantling of barriers at the provincial level is indispensable. “The roof potentials must be fully exploited in any case, and we will have to develop the remaining capacities with other areas. This requires an increased dual use of sites such as traffic or open spaces, as well as the use of innovative PV applications on noise barriers or as floating PV,” Herbert Paierl, Chairman of the Board of the Federal Association Photovoltaic Austria (PVA), explains the comprehensive application possibilities of PV. The planned accompanying programme to improve the mobilisation of roof systems, special funding pots for innovative systems as well as annual monitoring are therefore important measures to achieve the goal.
PV obligation would create an additional 20 percent of new construction
Without a mandatory installation of PV systems on newly constructed buildings, the goals of the “One Million Roofs Programme” are therefore hardly achievable. “Similar regulations, such as connection to the water and sewage supply or compliance with a certain building standard, already exist for new buildings. These requirements are to be completed with the obligatory installation of PV systems. Vienna is setting a good example here,” Paierl sums up. In the next 10 years, 250,000 new buildings will be constructed (assumption: continuation of the current trend). With an Austria-wide PV obligation in new buildings alone, a PV capacity of 2.1 GWp can be installed by 2030, which corresponds to 20% of the necessary PV construction by 2030.The federal government has set itself the goal of having 100 percent of Austria’s electricity come from renewable energies by 2030. Among other things, it is planned to install PV systems on one million roofs. The Federal Association Photovoltaic Austria (PVA) welcomes this programme as an important step towards the energy transition.