Austria's green electricity output falls by 1m MW hours in 2011

Dec 13, 2012 - Production of green electricity in Austria shrunk by almost 1 million MW hours in 2011, according to a report published by Austrian energy regulator E-Control on Tuesday.

Carbon emissions rose by 350,000 tonnes, according to the report.

Austria's energy trade balance worsened by EUR 50 billion (USD 65.3bn) as increased consumption required a higher volume of imported electricity generated by burning fossil fuels.

The share of renewable energy in Austria's electricity consumption fell by only 0.1% on the year. However, the increased consumption meant that a great amount of fossil electricity -- the equivalent of 85,000 tonnes of oil -- had to be imported.

According to Josef Plank, president of the Renewable Energy Austria association, the country had to import EUR 8 billion worth of oil and gas in 2011. He said further Austria should make efforts to reduce its independence on energy from fossil sources.

(EUR 1 = USD 1.307)

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