Energy R&D Survey 2013: Public expenditure in Austria, Survey for the IEA

Abstract

Being a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Austria is obliged to yearly record all energy related research, development and first-of-its-kind demonstration projects carried out in Austria and supported resp. financed by means of public funds. The Austrian Energy Agency has been appointed by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology to gather and evaluate the data. This annual survey is not only an international obligation but also allows emphasizing the importance of the energy research for Austria as well as creating and checking policy goals. About 1,100 projects and activities were registered and analyzed for the year 2013.

In 2013, Austria's public expenditure for energy-related research and development amounted to 124,545,848 euros, increasing the expenditures of 2012 by 3.7% About three quarters of this expenditure were provided by governmental authorities (federal, regional, funding organizations); the remaining part came from (publicly funded) research institutions and universities provided in equity capital (no third party financing was covered in this survey).

The research areas of energy efficiency, renewables, smart grids and storage define the priorities of the publicly financed energy research within Austria. The subcategories with the highest expenditures in 2013 were (in million euros for 2013):

• Efficient residential and commercial buildings (about 16)
• Electricity transmission and distribution (14.8)
• Photovoltaics (11.1)
• Energy efficiency in industry (techniques, processes, equipment and systems; 10.6)
• Communities, smart cities (10)
• Bioenergy (8.4)
• Hybrid and electric vehicles (7.6)
• Energy storage (non-transport applications; 4.8)
• Hydropower (4.3)
• production and storage of hydrogen (3.5)

About 65% of the means were used for applied research, and 18% for experimental development. Basic research represented a small yet very important portion of 7.5%. Also expenditures for first-of-its-kind demonstration were included in the data and amounted to 10% in 2013.

The expenditures of the federal ministries, either directly or via programs within their fields of responsibility (excluding the Climate and Energy Fund), totaled up to 29.7 million euros, with the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology investing more than half of this amount.

The Climate and Energy Fund spent 38.2 million euros, which was substantially more than last year's expenditure. In contrary, the total expenditures of the nine federal provinces dropped down to 6.1 million euros, that is a minus of 41% in one year. The expenditure of the (non-university) research institutions was 17.7 million euros; about 92% of this sum was invested by the Austrian Institute of Technology - AIT.

The universities spent 10.6 million euros in total with equity capital. Here the Vienna University of Technology had the highest expenditures. The amount of 1.9 million euros was invested by the sector of universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen, FH) with equity capital.

Kontakt

Austrian Energy Agency
DI Andreas Indinger, Marion Katzenschlager
Tel.: +43 (1) 586 15 24 - 111
E-Mail: andreas.indinger@energyagency.at
Web: www.energyagency.at