PORR is fitting out around 30 roofs with photovoltaic systems in collaboration with an external service provider. The rollout will be completed within the next three years. The PV systems will generate an electricity yield of just under nine gigawatt hours (GWh) per year, which will primarily be used for the company’s own operations.
In addition, PORR will use former landfill sites to generate electricity from solar energy. As part of the cooperation with energy company VERBUND, plants are to be erected at five locations on both land and water, with the potential to generate a yield of 13 GWh. To put this into perspective, one GWh of electricity is roughly equivalent to the average annual consumption of 440 electric cars.
Meeting one third of the power demand
“Together, the photovoltaic plants will generate a good third of our total annual electricity demand in Austria”, says PORR CEO Karl-Heinz Strauss. “The use of renewable energy sources plays an essential part in decarbonisation and would be a priority for us for this reason alone. The price increases in the electricity sector and the increasing electrification of our vehicle fleet and machines mean that this is additionally an absolutely sensible and sustainable measure in terms of our competitiveness”. PORR is currently implementing the rollout in Austria. The options for implementation in the other home markets are also being examined.
PORR’s rollout is taking place against the backdrop of an Austria-wide expansion of photovoltaics. The federal government has announced its intention to make 100% of total electricity consumption renewable by 2030. One million roofs are set to be equipped with photovoltaic systems, generating around eleven terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity.
