New pellet plant

Fürstenfeld wants to become completely energy self-sufficient

Pro-Pellets Managing Director Doris Stiksl, Mayor Franz Jost, Franz Friedl (Stadtwerke)(Bild: Sepp Pail)

A new pellet wood gasification plant was opened in Fürstenfeld on Monday. It turns pellets into electricity for 5,000 households and heat for 1,500 - and the Fürstenfeld regional hospital. What the 15 million euro plant can do.

"You would have to fly from Vienna to New York 4,000 times to consume as much CO₂ as we save with this plant," says Doris Stiksl. The Managing Director of Pro Pellets Austria came to Styria especially for the opening of the new wood gasification plant in Fürstenfeld - the largest in Austria. 

There is talk of it being a "role model for the whole of Austria" and a "lighthouse project". How does the plant work? Twelve high-performance engines are powered by burning pellets. The pellets are in turn products made from sawdust - a waste product from wood production. This produces electricity and heat. 

This is what the new wood gasification plant in Fürstenfeld looks like(Bild: Sepp Pail)

District heating almost completely ecological
Mayor Franz Jost expressed his pride on Monday: "Many regions are talking about the climate transition. We are the implementers." The aim is to "set the electricity price ourselves at some point and no longer be dependent". By the end of the year, a battery storage system will also be built to supply a further 2,000 households.

This means that almost one hundred percent of the district heating in Fürstenfeld comes from sustainable resources - now all that remains is to connect more households in the sprawling town. In terms of electricity, the goal is almost reached: "We want to be energy self-sufficient by March 2025. We will achieve that," says Jost.