Austria went on to generate 87% of its power from renewable sources in 2023 due to the record years of solar panel expansion, putting it right behind Luxembourg when it comes to the EU rankings.
It is worth noting that much of Austria’s electricity happens to traditionally come from hydropower, all thanks to the many large plants that are spread along the country’s rivers. In the years that have gone by, however, more power from new renewables like wind and solar has enabled the expansion of conventional structures.
As per Austria’s Environment Ministry, the fact is that in the last year, 87% of Austrian power came in from renewables, which happens to be up from 78% in 2022.
Notably, it was only Luxembourg that went on to perform better at 89%, whereas Lithuania ranked third with 81%.
The Austrian government gave credit for the big change to quite a prominent boost from solar power, which has in fact more than doubled in order to provide 4.4% of the country’s electricity. Apart from this, the wind turbines also now generate over 15% of electricity.
It is estimated that by 2030, Austria looks to generate 100% of its electricity from renewable sources. The country has also gone on to become a model when it comes to this sector in Brussels, thereby setting up an informal Friends of Renewables group for EU nations with almost a dozen member states.
Paris, which happened to launch a similar group which is dedicated to nuclear power, has for long been at odds with Vienna when it comes to the role of nuclear power in the bloc’s endeavors to meet its climate targets.