A good year after construction began on the Stegenwald power plant on the Salzach near the Lueg Pass in Salzburg’s Pongau, the Administrative Court has revoked the nature conservation permit. This was announced by the project partners Salzburg AG and Verbund on Friday afternoon. The two are “currently examining the effects of this decision and will determine the next steps in the coming days,” the press release states.
“The aim is to obtain a nature conservation permit again as quickly as possible.” According to the statement, the permit was revoked for formal reasons. “Substantive reasons are not given, but the reason given is a violation of procedural regulations.” The State Environmental Office (LUA) had filed an extraordinary appeal against the corresponding decision of the State Administrative Court (LVwG) of Salzburg.
Until a new permit is issued under nature conservation law, any work on the construction site that requires such a permit will be stopped. “The work to date has been carried out on the basis of an existing permit under nature conservation law,” said the project partners.
The governing parties ÖVP and FPÖ stressed in press releases this afternoon that they felt confirmed in their plan to abolish the LUA’s right of appeal in procedures for renewable energy plants, which is to be decided soon in the state parliament.
Construction of the power plant began in June 2023. After completion, it is expected to generate 72.8 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, which corresponds to the average annual consumption of around 20,000 households. Verbund and Salzburg AG are investing around 100 million euros in this, it was announced a year ago. The construction period is just over two years before the two Kaplan turbines can generate electricity with an output of 14.3 megawatts.
WHAT
