| Title | Austria - Country Update |
|---|---|
| Authors | Johann Goldbrunner |
| Year | 2010 |
| Conference | World Geothermal Congress |
| Keywords | Austria, Geothermal Energy, Molasse Basin, Styrian Basin, Vienna Basin, Pannonian Basin, Alpine region, deep geothermal, wells, thermal capacity, ORC, ground source heat pumps. |
| Abstract | Only 7 deep boreholes have been drilled in Austria between 2005 and 2009 (cumulative depth 9,468 m). They all were drilled for balneological purposes, mainly wellness. No geothermal project has been launched in Austria since 2005. The main reason is the lacking public support and the low feed-in tariffs for electric power (7.3 ct/kWh in Austria compared to 23 ct/kWh in Germany for combined geothermal heat and power production). In the next future new deep geothermal projects can be expected in the Vienna Basin. The number of ground source heat pumps showed a steady increase since 2005. The total number of units is estimated as high as 50,000 having a capacity of 600 MWth and 800 GWh/yr. |