The documentation and market research in the field of technologies for the use of renewable energy sources creates a basis for the planning and decision making in politics, economy, research and development. The aim of this market study "Innovative energy technologies in Austria – market development 2020" is to lay a foundation in the following fields: biomass, photovoltaics, solar thermal collectors, heat pumps and wind power.
Methods used are: questionnaires handed out to manufacturers, trading firms and installation companies as well as questionnaires for funding providers at the national and local governments. Furthermore information is gathered with a survey of literature, the evaluation of available statistics and internet research. The obtained data is displayed in time series to provide the starting point for deeper analysis and strategical considerations.
First the market development is illustrated by production numbers or installed capacities and then the energy gain is calculated taking into account the life cycle of the machinery. The necessary support energy for the main and auxiliary machinery is discussed and savings in gross and net of greenhouse gas emissions are calculated. The graphically displayed turnovers and the job creating effects eventually show the impact of the various technologies in Austria. Results are shown in alphabetical order of technologies.
The influencing factors of the market diffusion of the renewables were widespread in 2020. The consequences of the Corona crisis remained widely manageable in 2020 – as was generally the case in the building sector and classical factors as the price of fossil energy, the existing energy-political framework and the competition among the technologies for the use of renewable energy dominated the events. Against this background an increase of the domestic market in the areas biomass boilers, photovoltaics and heat pumps could be recorded while clear declines had to be registered in the areas biomass stoves, solar thermics and wind power.
Fuels from solid biomass contributed to a CO2 reduction of about 9.2 million tons in 2020. The whole sector of solid biofuels made a total turnover of 1.580 billion Euros thus creating 18,376 jobs.
The success of bioenergy highly depends on the availability of suitable biomasses in sufficient volumes and at competitive prices. The availability of biomass feedstock is currently very good. In addition to the traditional use of biomass in the heating sector, the importance of bioenergy as part of a sustainable energy system in combination with other renewables is increasing: biomass fuels are weather-independent energy suppliers. In this context the co-production of electricity and/or material products such as biochar is of great interest in order to ensure the most efficient use of resources.
This trend also continued in the following years due to low oil prices and warm weather. In 2019 and 2020 the sale figures increased again. In 2020, the sales of pellet boilers (<100 kW) increased by 21.9 %, those of wood log/pellets combi by 45.2 %. The sales of small-scale (<100 kW) wood chip boilers increased by 6.9 % and the sales of wood log boilers by 10.9 %.
For the first time after the early phase of innovators and stand-alone systems the Austrian photovoltaic market in 2003 experienced an upsurge as the green electricity bill (Ökostromgesetz) was passed before collapsing again due to the 15 MWpeak capping of feed-in tariffs in 2004. After the absolute highest market diffusion of photovoltaic systems in Austria in 2013 due to an extra funding process, the PV market stabilized from 2014 to 2018. After an increase in 2019 to 247 MWpeak, also in 2020 a substantial increase was generated: As shown in Figure 9, PV plants with a total capacity of 340.84 MWpeak were installed in 2020, which represents a significant increase of 38 %.
Hence, in 2020 the total amount of installed PV capacity in Austria was 2,043 MWpeak. This represents an increase of 20 %. As a consequence, the sum of produced electricity by PV plants in operation amounted to at least 2,043 GWh in 2020 and lead to a reduction in CO2equ - emissions by 888,063 tons.
The Austrian photovoltaic industry is covering the production of PV modules and inverters as well as other PV components and devices. Furthermore, there is a high density of planning and installation companies for PV systems as well as specialized institutions and universities, which play an important role in international photovoltaic research & development (R&D). Within those economic sectors 2,755 persons are employed full-time, which raises solar technology to an overall substantial market. The average system price of a grid-connected 5 kWpeak photovoltaic system in Austria has decreased slightly compared to 2019 (1,568 EUR/kWpeak excl. VAT) to 1,506 EUR/kWpeak excl. VAT in 2020.
Especially the development of building integrated photovoltaic systems is of high importance for Austria. High added value seems to be achievable in this market branch. The integration does not only concern architectural aspects, but also systemic aspects of the optimal use of the locally generated electricity.
As early as the 1980s, the use of thermal solar energy experienced a first boom in the area of water heating and the heating of swimming pools. At the beginning of the 1990ies it was possible to develop a considerable market in the field of solar combi systems for hot water and space heating. In the period between the year 2002 and 2009 the solar thermal market grew significantly and reached the peak in 2009 due to rising oil prices but also due to new applications in the multifamily house sector, the tourism sector as well as new applications in solar assisted district heating and industrial process heat.
After the phase of massive growth until 2009, the domestic market has been declining for more than a decade. This development is not only observed in Austria, but with a few exceptions also in most European countries. In 2020, the Austrian domestic market again recorded a decline of 17.0 % compared to 2019.
As a positive aspect, it has to be emphasized that two large solar thermal plants for district heating systems with a total capacity of mit 4.6 MWth (6,543 m²) as well as a solar cooling system with a collector area of 3,500 m² and a cooling capacity of 660 kW were commissioned in 2020.
By the end of the year 2020 approx. 4.9 million m² of solar thermal collectors were in operation. This corresponds to an installed thermal capacity of 3.4 GWth. The solar yield of the solar thermal systems in operation is equal to 2,116 GWhth. The avoided CO2-emissions are 345,637 tons.
In 2020 a total of 76,060 m² solar thermal collectors were installed, which corresponds to an installed thermal capacity of 53.2 MWth as Figure 10 shows.
The export share of thermal collectors increased from 81 % in 2019 to 84 % in 2020. The turnover of the Austrian solar thermal industry was estimated with 131 million Euros for the year 2020. Therefore approx. 1,100 full time jobs can be numbered in the solar thermal business.
The historical development of the heat pump market shows an early phase of technology diffusion in the 1980''s (mainly heat pumps for water heating), followed by a significant market decrease in the 1990''s and a strong market diffusion starting from the year 2001 (now mainly heat pumps for space heating) see Figure 11. From 2001 onwards the diffusion of heat pumps for space heating came together with the introduction of energy efficient buildings with low heating energy demand which offered good conditions for an energy efficient and economically attractive operation of heat pumps. This is due to low temperature needs in heating systems and low energy consumption for space heating.
The total sales volume of heat pumps (domestic market plus export market for all uses and power classes) increased in 2020 from 43,665 units sold in the previous year to 47,192 units. This corresponds to a growth of 8.1 %. Growth was observed both in the domestic market (+8.0 %) and in the export market (+8.3 %). Strong growth was particularly noticeable for heat pumps for space heating up to 10 kW. Domestic hot water heat pumps showed an increase of 3.1 % in the home market and an increase of 1.7 % in the export market.
The percentage of the export market was 32.8 % in quantity of the total sales in 2020 and therefore roughly the same as in the previous year. In 2020 the Austrian heat pump sector (production, trade, installation and monetary value of heat) had an amount of total sales of 870 million Euro and 1,721 full time jobs. Thanks to the existing heat pump stock in Austria about 832.853 tons CO2equ of net emissions could be avoided in 2020.
Presently research and development of heat pump systems focus on innovative installations combined with other technologies: e.g. solar thermal systems or photovoltaic systems, new energy-services as air-conditioning, space cooling or applications in the context of renovating buildings in regard to humidity problems. The range of innovations is completed with the use of new driving energy as natural gas and the use of the heat pump technology in smart grids.
Approximately 981 million Euro turnover was generated by the windpower industry in Austria, including wind energy operators, suppliers and service companies. This means a slight increase compared to the previous year, mainly due to the proceeds from the electricity sales of the wind energy operators.
At the end of 2020, around 4,959 people were employed in the Austrian wind industry. Of these, 2,609 in the areas of construction, dismantling, maintenance and service and of these 481 for operators of wind turbines. Around 2,350 employees were reported from the supplying industry.
Thanks to the 2019 green electricity amendment, 250 projects with a capacity of 900 MW that have been approved and have been waiting to be implemented since 2015 can be equipped with subsidy contracts. As a result, more than 1 GW of wind power will be built by 2024 and investments of 1.6 billion Euros will be generated. In addition, 640 permanent jobs will be created.
Currently new projects have no prospect of a feed in tariff because the funds in the Green Electricity Act will be exhausted by the end of 2021. The industry is therefore waiting for the Renewable Energy Sources Act, which was announced for early 2021.
Concrete road maps for a decarbonisation of the Austrian energy supply in the areas electricity and heat are illustrated in the studies "Stromzukunft 2030" by Resch et al. (2016) and "Wärmezukunft 2050" by Kranzl et al. (2018). The diffusion rates of the technologies for the use of renewable energy necessary to achieve the national climate and energy targets are respectively clearly above the actually measurable developments.
A basic prerequisite for an entirely renewable heat supply is furthermore halving the energy consumption in the heat sector. Effective measures like the thermal renovation of buildings should happen synchronously to the switch to renewables. Buildings renovated with little ambition and their heat demand equally remain in the investment far past the targeted horizon 2040 and they consequently prevent reaching the goals in the heat area.
Expo2017 Sphere, photo: ertex solar/Dieter Moor
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