Already 8000 "fans"

Fulminant start for provincial energy community

Green electricity is currently mainly produced by wind turbines.

(Bild: P. Huber)

The "Fanclub Burgenland Energieunabhängig" started at the beginning of the year and is already the largest energy community in Austria.

A fixed price of 10 cents net per kilowatt hour for 20 years - this is what the state-wide energy community "Fanclub Burgenland Energieunabhängig" is offering with - as reported - the support of Burgenland Energie. The initiative was launched at the beginning of the year. And shortly after its launch, a record was set: The "fan club" already has 8,000 registrations, making it the largest renewable energy community in Austria, according to Governor Hans Peter Doskozil and Stephan Sharma, CEO of Burgenland Energie, who are delighted with the high level of participation.

Registrations still possible
"With the Burgenland Energieunabhängig fan club, an energy community has been established with which we can guarantee permanently low, stable and predictable electricity prices," explains the head of the province. "8,000 registrations show that the energy independence movement in Burgenland is already very advanced," Sharma also believes. However, this is by no means the end of the road. Registrations for the energy community are still possible at any time.

Doskozil and Sharma are delighted with the high level of participation.

(Bild: zVg/Richard Neubauer)

60 percent of electricity sourced from the fan club
The advantage for all those who take part: Whenever the sun is shining or - as has increasingly been the case in recent days - the wind is blowing in Burgenland, members of the first nationwide energy community can purchase green electricity at the aforementioned fixed price.

"The first few days of supplying the fan club show that even in the first week of January, we were able to make the members of the fan club 60 percent more energy-independent from the markets and abroad without large yields from photovoltaic systems and only with wind production," says Sharma. "The people of Burgenland can rely on us. We can decouple ourselves from the market price with the energy community," emphasizes Doskozil.

Incidentally, the start of the fan club was probably not chosen at random: On January 1, the electricity price brake was ended by the federal government.