Private project

22 new wind turbines are to be erected in Sandl

Upper Austria's largest wind farm is to be built in the municipality of Sandl.

(Bild: Reindl Manfred)

Instead of the current 31 wind turbines, 53 wind turbines could be generating electricity in Upper Austria in the foreseeable future. The operating company "Windenergie Sandl" has applied for an environmental impact assessment for 22 giants with a height of 285 meters in the municipality of Sandl. They could supply electricity for 125,000 households.

An investment of 250 million euros is in the offing in the Mühlviertel. As reported by the "Oberösterreichische Nachrichten" (OÖN), the private operating company "Windenergie Sandl" wants to erect 22 wind turbines with a total output of 160 megawatts in the village of the same name. According to Stefan Kaineder, the state councillor for the environment, this could increase the amount of wind energy currently generated in the state, which has so far resisted the expansion of wind power, sixfold.

Rotor blades reach 285 meters in height
The operators want to erect the wind turbines north-east of the town center in the forests near the Czech border. The wind power generated is to be transported via an underground cable line and supply around 125,000 households. The powerful wind turbines (7.2 MW) have a hub height of 199 meters and the rotor blades are planned to reach 285 meters into the sky. 

One of the windiest regions 
"The north-eastern Mühlviertel is one of the windiest regions in Upper Austria - we have to take advantage of these natural conditions," says Kaineder, endorsing the project, which could generate up to 0.5 TWh of clean electricity per year. "No other area in Upper Austria has this unique combination of wind strength and sparse population. We have a distance of up to 1500 meters to the next settlement. That makes Sandl ideal," Philipp Wieser, spokesman for the operating company Windenergie Sandl, describes the location to the OÖN. The project is backed by two families who want to invest 250 million euros in the wind farm and underground cable with the help of banks.