Photovoltaic Austria criticizes Styria for too few PV areas

After Burgenland and Lower Austria, Styria is now the third Austrian federal state to designate areas for ground mounted photovoltaic plants. The draft of the »PV-Sachprogramm« provides for a total of 825 hectares, distributed among 34 Styrian municipalities. Excluded are, among others, agricultural priority areas with high soil quality, protected areas and forest areas, and thus about 75 percent of the land area of Styria.
The federal association Photovoltaic Austria considers the designated areas to be insufficient to achieve the goal of 2.8 gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity by 2030 set by the state. Only a part of the planned areas can actually be used, and the resulting shifting of open space development is neither compatible nor realistic. The strong focus on predominantly foggy valley locations instead of sunny slopes is also critical. The association therefore demands the designation of 2,100 hectares, more than twice as much as planned in the draft.
© PHOTON