"EWS Sonnenfeld in Bruck an der Leitha" receives Innovation Award of Lower Austrian Government.

"It's great and it also makes us proud that EWS Sonnenfeld Bruck an der Leitha has received this award and that our work for the energy transition in Austria has been recognised," says Joachim Payr, managing partner of EWS.

The Upper Austrian EWS Consulting GmbH has been implementing renewable energy projects as a planning office for wind energy and agri-photovoltaics for almost 30 years, but hardly ever in its own province.

For the agri-photovoltaic plant "EWS Sonnenfeld in Bruck an der Leitha", the town of Bruck an der Leitha received the main prize as an innovative PV project on 11.01.2023 for the project team consisting of EWS Consulting GmbH, Energiepark Bruck/Leitha GmbH, the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna and with the support of the Climate and Energy Fund. The prize was presented by Stephan Pernkopf, deputy head of the provincial government.

After completion of the technical development, the largest agricultural PV plant in Austria was erected in record time and ceremoniously commissioned in November 2022 by Climate Protection Minister Gewessler and Agriculture Minister Totschnig. Read more in the news article on the opening.
"Just like EWS, there are many committed and highly professional companies in Austria that have good and economic climate protection solutions and can implement projects quickly. However, many decision-making competences regarding renewable energy production are ultimately the responsibility of the federal states. What we still need are concrete climate protection strategies at the state level and clearly defined action plans and targets for implementation. "Joachim Payr adds.

Several Agri-PV projects in Upper Austria, however, are stuck due to the lack of political will to implement them.

The EWS team expects that the projects under development in Upper Austria will now finally receive the necessary dedications at the provincial level as a basis for the start of further approval procedures.

"We welcome the fact that state governor Stelzer has declared climate protection to be a top priority and we are counting on the fact that the turbo for the expansion of Agri-PV will finally be started in Upper Austria," says Joachim Payr.

The Upper Austrian municipalities of Höhnhart, Mining, Pischelsdorf am Engelbach, Rohrbach-Berg (municipality), Schardenberg and St. Veit im Innkreis have already initiated the dedications for a long time. The first application for dedication by the municipality of Pischelsdorf was submitted by the EWS on 13.05.2020, i.e. more than 2.5 years ago.

In addition to the lengthy dedication procedures, there are also official statements, some of which are incomprehensible. "How can it be that if you want to build a project under a high-voltage line and a landscape survey certifies that it will not have a significant impact on the landscape, the nature conservation department refuses to implement it? You don't have to be an expert to see that this is purely a delaying tactic," says Joachim Payr.

We are currently in an energy crisis. The fossil fuels oil and gas have caused electricity prices to explode, endanger our business location and present many families with great financial challenges. The expansion of renewable energies is a necessary step to counteract this and make Austria climate-ready.