Austria’s Renewable Deployment Act

Country / jurisdiction: Austria · Year: 2021 · Status: In force · Level: National · Type: Voluntary

The Renewables Deployment Act includes a mix of policies that aims at ensuring a 100% share of renewable sources in Austrian electricity consumption by 2030. It focuses on investment incentives and market premium models, shifting away from feed-in tariffs in former legislation.

A key element in the new policy approach is the enabling of energy communities. This way, citizens can actively participate in the implementation of the energy transition. Members of energy communities can be both consumers and producers of renewable energy, and are entitled to consume, share, store and sell their own production, leading to increased autonomy over energy supply. In addition, the law provides certain benefits to make participation in energy communities economically attractive too. The decentralised approach aims at promoting strong citizen engagement and a wide geographical distribution of renewable production capacity, in turn leading to a better grid balance. In order to bundle measures to promote energy communities, the Ministry for Climate Action (BMK) has entrusted the Climate and Energy Fund with the establishment of the "Austrian Coordination Platform for Energy Communities". This platform aims to optimise the framework conditions for successful and easy implementation of the energy community model throughout Austria.

Official source: https://infothek.bmk.gv.at/erneuerbaren-ausbau-gesetz-geht-in-begutachtung/