Project Description
Vienna’s first collective PV system
Wien Energie built Vienna’s first collective PV system in 2018. Installed on the roof of an apartment building on Lavaterstraße in Vienna’s 22nd District, this system covers an area of 400 square metres and generates 60,000 kWh of solar power every year. The system is designed in such a way that a portion of the solar power generated is consumed on site, with any surplus electricity being fed into the grid. A total of 48 households use the solar power directly from their own roofs, meaning that, with normal levels of consumption, every household is able to draw 30 percent of its annual electricity requirements from home-made solar power.
Project details
The amendment to the Green Electricity Act in 2017 finally created the legal framework for PV systems to be installed on apartment buildings. Before the amendment, it was only possible for solar power in residential buildings to be used for common areas such as stairwells or lifts. But now the sun is turning Vienna’s roofs into their very own power plants, opening up a new business model for Wien Energie and enabling us to forge ahead with expanding the use of photovoltaics in Vienna.
“The opportunity to share solar power among the individual residents of a building opens the door to completely new business models, enabling us to make huge strides forward in our work to expand the use of photovoltaics in Vienna. In our view, it is worth installing a collective PV system on up to ten percent of Vienna’s apartment buildings. These comprise residential buildings that already exist, such as social housing blocks, housing association buildings or classic apartment buildings. It goes without saying, however, that there is considerable potential when it comes to new buildings in particular.”
Further reading
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