Binding rules

Test report calls for greater acceptance of wind power

Munderfing operates a wind farm with six wind turbines.

(Bild: Pressefoto Scharinger © Daniel Scharinger)

On Wednesday, Innviertel activists demonstrated against wind turbines but in favor of nuclear power in Linz. The following day, the Austrian Court of Audit published an audit of five municipalities regarding their (voluntary) implementation of the energy transition. The auditors see room for improvement, particularly with regard to wind power.  

The Upper Austrian Court of Audit (LRH) wants the state to provide a binding framework for municipal climate strategies. "Every municipality should develop a climate and energy strategy and derive concrete measures from it," says Director Rudolf Hoscher, even if this requires additional resources. The fact that the municipal climate and energy transition currently largely takes place via voluntary memberships in networks or funding programs is too much for small municipalities.

Munderfing as a pioneer
As part of an own-initiative audit, the LRH examined the municipal climate and energy management in five municipalities - Engelhartszell, Munderfing, Pucking, Tragwein and Weißenkirchen im Attergau. Hoscher found that Munderfing, which drew up its first climate and energy strategy back in 2005, had made the most strategic progress. The other municipalities audited had no long-term strategies.

Need for improvement identified
The LRH sees potential for optimization in all five municipalities. Their energy expenditure had risen significantly between 2021 and 2023 despite falling consumption. The recommendations range from obtaining comparative offers from energy providers to replacing heating systems and photovoltaics. The latter could reduce the municipality's energy costs in the long term.

Laying the foundations for wind power expansion
It would also be important to create broader acceptance for wind power, emphasizes the LRH, which sees Munderfing, which operates a wind farm with six wind turbines, as a positive example here. However: "Due to the high economic risks, the operation of a wind farm cannot be a municipality's core business," emphasized Hoscher. But it can create the legal, regional planning and, above all, socio-political foundations for the expansion of wind power.

"In general, we see considerable potential in wind power for supplying Upper Austria's population and business location with regional electricity," says Hoscher and appeals: "Climate protection concerns us all. The public sector has the task of limiting the consequential costs of climate change through appropriate measures."