Wiener Stadtwerke / 2020 Annual Report
Our city: helping to reverse climate change
Urban centres are important for global climate protection in many respects because they generate a large part of the world’s carbon emissions and consume a lot of energy. At the same time, cities are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change due to their high population density. Vienna is meeting these challenges boldly, thanks to an innovative smart city strategy in which we are playing a central role. We are actively shaping a future that is driven by renewable energies, innovation and digitalisation, and which brings these issues together in a meaningful way. Energy teamwork: Thinking across sectors
of renewable energies and integrate them into the overall system. For example, surplus electricity can be stored as heat in the district heating network or as gas or hydrogen in the gas network. In addition, we save costs through the efficient use of existing infrastructures and avoid expensive pipeline construction that is not necessary from an overall system perspective. A smart solution for climate protection!
The expansion of renewable energies also requires the restructuring or rethinking of our energy system. The electricity, heating and mobility sectors can no longer be considered separately, but must interact intelligently. This cross-sector strategy plays a central role at Wiener Stadtwerke because only with “energy teamwork” can we succeed in efficiently implementing technologies to avoid carbon emissions, while at the same time ensuring households in Vienna are constantly supplied with sufficient energy.
Increased reliance on the sun
For the energy transition to succeed, we need every kilowatt hour of solar power we can get. Wien Energie further accelerated its expansion of photovoltaics in 2020. On average, the energy service provider built a new solar power plant every week. Despite coronavirus restrictions, 26 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic capacity were installed last year, which is a new annual record. In total, today we operate more than 270 plants with almost 70 MW and continue to expand our position as Austria’s largest solar power
Wien Energie is already taking a pioneering role here and is investing almost one billion euros in environmentally friendly sector integration technologies up to 2023. Through the combined use of existing grid infrastructures and intelligent storage solutions, we are able to increase the share
Globally, cities account for...
¾
80
of all energy consumed.
%
of all greenhouse gases emitted.
40
