Market model

The high feed-in volumes of electricity from renewable resources and related economic factors have created increasingly shorter windows for the use of thermal generation capacity. Since the cost of the required primary energy carriers (natural gas, coal, oil) is frequently not covered by the low wholesale price for electricity, the market is now witnessing the decommissioning of thermal power plants. Older plants as well as newly constructed, highly efficient facilities have been affected by this development. The high volatility of renewable energy supplies has also reduced the scope of planning and created significant challenges for the energy industry. The resulting impact on supply security in Europe and Austria is difficult to estimate at the present time. The availability of sufficient production capacity therefore represents an important factor for protecting electricity supplies. Against this backdrop, adequate steps need to be taken in order to allow producers to provide capacity on a sound economic footing.