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Wind Power Potentials in Austria

Austria's onshore wind resource is unevenly distributed. Viable sites are concentrated in the eastern lowlands, the Alpine foothills, and selected ridgeline locations, while the high-alpine interior is largely unsuitable. Capturing this geographic constraint accurately is essential for realistic energy modelling.

The study Erneuerbare Energiepotenziale in Österreich 2030 & 2040, conducted on behalf of the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund (KLIEN), quantifies realisable onshore wind potentials at district level through a four-step methodology combining GIS-based site identification, turbine placement, economic assessment, and state-level expansion modelling. PyPSA-AT applies these potentials to constrain the optimised expansion of onshore wind generators in Austrian regions.

For the shared data pipeline, scenario dimensions, and configuration reference, see KLIEN Renewable Energy Potentials.

Wind Power in the KLIEN Study

In 2024, Austria operated 1,413 wind power plants (WPPs) with a combined annual feed-in of 9,288 GWh. The installed fleet spans rated capacities from 500 kW to 6,200 kW, reflecting successive turbine generations. The KLIEN study uses installed capacity as its primary indicator rather than plant count, because capacity is a more meaningful measure of resource utilisation across a heterogeneous fleet.

Methodology

The study derives wind power potentials in four steps:

  1. Identification of potential areas: A GIS-based analysis identifies areas suitable for wind power development by applying exclusion criteria — terrain slope, minimum distances to settlements, minimum distances to transport and energy infrastructure, and protected natural areas.

  2. Turbine placement and yield calculation: Hypothetical WPPs are placed within the identified areas. Using local wind data from the Austrian wind atlas, the annual energy yield at each turbine location is calculated from an assumed turbine power curve.

  3. Economic assessment: Each modelled turbine location is evaluated for economic feasibility, incorporating remuneration under the Austrian Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) alongside current investment and operating costs.

  4. Allocation of expansion rates: Nationwide wind power expansion rates — modelled as annual numbers of newly installed WPPs — are allocated to individual federal states. Results are reported for the target years 2030 and 2040.

Spatial Distribution and Fragmentation

Potential areas for wind power are distributed very unevenly relative to the total area of each federal state. The spatial structure of potential areas — whether large contiguous zones or fragmented small patches — significantly influences how many turbines can be placed, because minimum inter-turbine spacing requirements interact with patch geometry. In highly fragmented areas, each WPP effectively occupies only its foundation footprint. In large contiguous zones, each WPP requires a circular exclusion area with a radius of two rotor diameters (half of the assumed 4D minimum inter-turbine spacing). Reported potential areas are therefore not directly proportional to installed capacity or energy production.

Repowering

Repowering sites — locations where existing turbines reach the end of their assumed 20-year operational lifetime and become available for renewed use — are included in the technical potential. This means slightly different technical potentials arise for 2030 and 2040, as the two target years capture different shares of the existing fleet reaching end-of-life. At the upper end of the High storyline, approximately one third of Austria's technical wind power potential would be realised nationwide by 2040.

Input Data

The study provides a single GeoJSON file at municipality level for wind:

GeoJSON file Technology
wind_EEPOT_W23.geojson Onshore wind power

This file is fetched and processed by the build_klien_potentials rule (scripts/pypsa-at/build_klien_potentials.py). The output CSVs (nuts3_wind.csv, at10_wind.csv) contain one row per region and one column per scenario combination.

Carrier Mapping

Wind power maps to a single PyPSA carrier:

KLIEN dataset PyPSA carrier
wind onwind

There is no shared land-use constraint for wind: the p_nom_max value set by apply_klien_potential_limits() is the sole capacity ceiling for onwind generators in each Austrian region. No additional solver constraint analogous to the solar land-use constraint is required.