Styria

Pilot Overview

Styria is a federal state located in Austria and is characterized by its mountainous terrain, where the south-eastern parts is defined by a hilly landscape while the northern and western parts gradually give way to high peak and glacial areas. The region is widely covered by forests and meadows and has a unique climate that combines alpine and Pannonian features, providing diverse habitats for wildlife and various species.

Styria has a significant wind power potential, particularly in its mountainous areas, where wind speeds are generally of high quality in terms of speed and consistent and are typically location at altitudes above 1,000 meters.

The region has a variety of sites suitable for the installation of wind turbines, including high altitude sites and sites in forests. With 2022 104 wind turbines with a total of 260MW were in operation. Austria set plans to install further 10GW wind power capacity by 2030 with some plans for wind farms in Styria, where the favourable areas are located on the high altitudes of the mountain ridges on both sides of the rivers Mur and Mürz, where only a few developable areas are left between large environmental protection zones.

Pilot Challenges

The implementation possibilities largely depend on the definition of priority and suitability zones, as well as exclusion zones within the federal state, which consider protection zones and wildlife. On site the local acceptance and the early involvement of stakeholders also play a role. The particularity of this pilot is that WIMBY addresses an entire region with a high wind power deployment potential and at the same time a high scenic value.

Windpark Pretul credits: ÖBf Robert Leitner

Social engagement

Short interviews

In the last section of this page you can find embedded videos of the seven short interviews collected with organising partners and participants of the Styria pilot site workshops. Here below the ordered list with external links to YouTube videos.