Energy supply

A reliable energy supply is not a given

At home or at work, we all use energy every day. Whether for cooking, heating, charging our phones, or keeping the office printer ready for use, a reliable supply of electricity and heat is indispensable in our daily lives and is taken for granted. A lot of work goes into maintaining the energy supply of a metropolis like Vienna, with its two million residents, in such a reliable and efficient manner.

Vienna does not relinquish control over its own energy supply

The smooth functioning of life and business in a city heavily depends on the security and reliability of its energy supply. In Vienna, great emphasis is placed on ensuring that the city can independently provide its residents with energy for electricity, heating, and cooling if necessary. To ensure that there are no concerns about a reliably stable energy supply in Vienna, the city manages its energy supply itself.

Vienna invests, so that its energy supply is secure

A total of 4,500 employees of Wien Energie and Wiener Netze work daily to ensure that Vienna's approximately 30,000 km long power grid functions smoothly, thus providing Vienna with a round-the-clock energy supply. With a supply security rate of nearly 100%, Vienna ranks among the international leaders. To maintain this, Vienna will be investing heavily in the coming years in supply security and the transition to renewable energy.

Vienna has the lowest per capita energy consumption in Austria

Due to a multitude of measures aimed at combating energy waste, Vienna has the lowest energy consumption of all the federal states. For comparison: The Austrian average outside of Vienna is about double the value of Vienna's.

Vienna’s path to a climate-resilient city

The climate crisis presents us all with enormous challenges. To decisively combat climate change, the city aims to become climate neutral by 2040. To achieve this, the city has implemented and is taking many measures and steps:

In the future, Vienna's energy supply will be entirely based on renewable energy sources, many of which are produced regionally and used locally.
Improvements in energy efficiency will reduce energy consumption, facilitated by investments in increasing electrification in the mobility and heating sectors, the coordinated expansion of district heating, the rollout of new technologies and business models, as well as the growing environmental awareness of the population and their changing mobility behavior.

Energy supply, that is secure and ecological, as a condition for a high quality of life

An energy supply based on security of supply and ecological sustainability is one of the most important prerequisites for quality of life and the development of the economic location. Austria has set the goal of overcoming its dependence on oil, gas, and coal for heating supply by 2040. In the building sector, various options already exist to make the energy supply renewable and future-proof. Vienna is leading by example and has stipulated in the Vienna Climate Roadmap that the city's heating and cooling supply will be converted to renewable energy sources by 2040. District heating plays an important but not the only role in this transition. Currently, around 40 percent of the final energy consumption for heating and hot water in Vienna is covered by district heating. There are plans to further expand district heating and increase the use of fossil-free, renewable sources and waste heat. The specific expansion plans for district heating, hence where district heating will be available in new buildings and existing structures, are currently being developed and depend on factors such as network availability, network capacity, heat demand density in the area, and the amount of available district heating. Around 43 percent of the final energy consumption for heating and hot water in Vienna is currently covered by natural gas. In particular, buildings in densely populated parts of the city are to be converted from gas to district heating. In less densely populated areas, other renewable heating supply options such as solar energy, biogenic fuels, and heat pumps are being considered.

Alignment of networks to climate neutrality and transition of energy supply to renewable sources

To create the conditions for an efficient and future-proof energy system based on renewable energy sources, the city is investing:

Investments in maintaining and expanding the network infrastructure and storage for electricity and heat.
Investments in the expansion of the electricity grid.
Densification and expansion of the district heating network, especially in areas with very high building density, to offer alternatives to natural gas heating.
Ongoing reduction of the natural gas share in district heating by Wien Energie, with the goal of an independent energy future. By 2040, district heating will be completely climate-neutral.
Ensuring that the expansion of underground infrastructure is optimally coordinated with other road space reconstruction measures.
Creating planning security for customers, energy providers, and network operators, among other things, through energy spatial planning instruments.
Enabling and promoting the construction of new photovoltaic systems equivalent to the size of around 100 football fields per year. Construction will primarily take place on already developed areas, such as roofs, facades, and other sealed surfaces. This advances the energy transition by making Vienna independent of fossil fuels without reducing the high proportion of green space in the city.
Investments in enhanced energy generation through geothermal heat, as well as groundwater and wastewater.
IInvestments in the conversion of district heating supply to renewable energy sources.
Expansion of production and supply structures for green gas.

Further information on energy supply in Vienna can be found at:

City of Vienna. Energy planning. https://www.wien.gv.at/english/environment/energy/

Link to the PDF-file „Smart Climate City Strategy Vienna"

Link to the PDF-file „Phasing out Gas"

Link to the PDF-file „Smart City Wien Framework Strategy"

Link to the PDF-file „Urban Development Plan 2025"

Link to the PDF-file „Short Report on Urban Development Plan 2025"

Link to the PDF-file „Energy Framework Strategy for Vienna 2030"

Link to the PDF-file „Energy Zoning Planning"

Wien Energie. Electricity & Natural Gas Provider. https://www.wienenergie.at/en/