Vibon, Austria's largest power supplier, has announced the closure of a coal-fired power plant in Merah, Styria, in southeastern Austria. In the past 15 years, many Austrian coal-fired power plants have been shut down due to aging equipment and other reasons, according to Austrian state radio. This coal-fired power plant and the previously shut down coal-fired power plant in dounroll, Lower Austria, are the last coal-fired power plants in Austria. Leonore geweisler, Minister of environment and infrastructure of Austria, pointed out that this is a historic moment, marking the end of the era of coal power in Austria and a step forward towards the end of fossil fuel power supply by 2030.

Over the past 34 years, the coal-fired power plant has supplied power and heating to Graz, the capital of the nearby state of Styria, according to Wolfgang anzenrubel, CEO of vibon. Vibon plans to build Merah into a future energy technology innovation center. At present, a pilot hydrogen fuel cell plant has been built in the local area, and it may be put into hydrogen fuel cell production in the future.

Evn, the Austrian energy group that operates the dounroll coal power plant, plans to invest 20 million euros to build dounroll into an innovative energy base, further utilize the sewage sludge in Lower Austria to generate heat, and install a large area of solar photovoltaic equipment to create more jobs in the energy sector.

Most of Austria's territory is mountainous, and the reserves of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas are not abundant. At present, Austria has more than 10 oil or natural gas power plants, whose power supply accounts for about 1 / 4 of the national total. An additional 10 billion euros a year is needed to import coal, oil and gas. The Austrian government plans to fully realize clean energy power supply by 2030. This is not only about protecting the environment, but also about Austria's economic autonomy, said Mr gewesler.

The Austrian government has introduced a series of measures to promote energy transformation: formulate a special climate and energy development strategy "2030 task", and set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 36% compared with 2005 by 2030; by 2030, the proportion of renewable energy in the end energy consumption will increase to 45% - 50%. The realization of "2030 task" is the first step of Austria's long-term strategy of environmental protection and energy in 2050. The central goal of the long-term strategy is to achieve "carbon neutralization" by 2050 and completely eliminate fossil energy.

In 2007, the Austrian government set up the climate and energy fund with the goal of reforming the energy system. It can spend up to 120 million euros a year. So far, it has invested more than 1 billion euros, providing support for more than 120000 innovative R & D projects. Austria's new renewable energy law, which will come into force in 2021, will help Austria build a sustainable, safe, innovative and competitive energy system. During Austria's rotating presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2018, the European Union was pushed to adopt a decision to eliminate coal subsidies for coal-fired power plants in all Member States from 2025.

Industry insiders pointed out that Austria still has a long way to go to complete the "2030 task". Willa imizel, President of "Austrian photovoltaic" of the Austrian photovoltaic and energy storage industry association, said that to fully realize clean energy power supply by 2030, Austria needs at least 10 times more photovoltaic equipment in the next 10 years.

Source: People's daily