Austria energy report: Electricity demand rises as drought hits production

In Austria, energy consumption patterns shifted in July, with electricity supply to end customers rising by 1.6 percent to 5.3 TWh, while gas consumption fell by 2.2 percent to 3.2 TWh, according to E-Control data.

Extreme drought caused a significant drop in domestic electricity production, which fell by 16.9 percent to 5.63 TWh. Run-of-river power plants saw a 43.6 percent decline in production due to low river levels, marking the lowest generation coefficient since 1955. To compensate, electricity imports rose by 54.4 percent to 2.58 TWh. While thermal power increased slightly and photovoltaic production grew by approximately one-third, storage levels remained 17.3 percent below the previous year.

Parallel to these shifts, the energy community Robin Powerhood reported a record amount of surplus electricity being donated this summer to combat energy poverty. In regions like Salzburg, donors are providing excess solar power to low-income households rather than selling it back to the grid. Salzburg Research is currently investigating ways to optimize these donations through better storage utilization to ensure energy is available when needed.