Last year, Austria deployed more than 1,000 MW of solar, making it a gigawatt-scale PV market for the first time. At present, the country's cumulative photovoltaic installed capacity has exceeded 4.2 GW.
Austria managed to join the ranks of countries that installed more than 1 GW of new solar capacity in a single year.
The country added 1.4 GW of new PV capacity last year, according to the Austrian Federal Photovoltaic Association (PV Austria). A spokesman for the association told pv magazine: "The final results will be announced next summer."
Austria installed 740 MW of new PV systems in 2021, with installed capacity of 341 MW in 2020 and 247 MW in 2019. Once the new figures for 2022 are confirmed, it means that the country's cumulative PV generation capacity reached 4.2 GW at the end of December. The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (SolarPower) previously estimated that Austria would not become a GW-scale market last year.
In order to promote the rapid development of the photovoltaic industry, the Austrian federal government has formulated a new Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) framework, but the specific implementation depends largely on the federal states. For example, the state government of Lower Austria has raised the expansion target to 3 GW for 2030, but has reduced the area of the solar park, which is now more than two hectares.
Herbert Paierl, President of the Austrian Federal Photovoltaic Association, said: "PV zoning should be used more as a weapon against the energy crisis and high electricity prices. Unfortunately, the area of solar power generation systems is gradually decreasing, so the photovoltaic target will definitely not be achieved."
It is unclear how many of the designated areas can actually be used because of competition for land use rights, ongoing reviews of protected areas, complex ownership structures, and insufficient grid capacity.
"The future tasks for the state government of Lower Austria are on the one hand to closely monitor the actual land use and, on the other hand, to quickly designate more areas that can be used for solar power generation," Paierl said.