Martin Litschauer congratulates the solar prize winners: Successes for wind power participation in the Waldviertel

The Austrian Solar Prizes from EUROSOLAR Austria were awarded today in Langau near Geras. “I am pleased that two solar awards for the commitment to wind energy are going to the Waldviertel! The award goes to the pilot region for wind power citizen participation in the Waldviertel, where new citizen participation packages were implemented in the Waidhofen/Thaya district. The entrepreneur Thomas Göttinger is also being honored for organizing the wind talks as part of the referendum,” says Martin Litschauer, anti-nuclear spokesman for the Greens and deputy mayor of Waidhofen/Thaya.

“In our pilot region, not only the local communities benefit from the expansion of wind power, but also the neighboring communities and citizens. A new type of citizen participation model with a regional electricity price cap will ensure low prices for regionally generated green electricity for decades,” emphasizes Litschauer. “Thomas Göttinger’s wind talks helped to reveal facts about wind energy and counteract fake news. I would like to thank Fridays for Future Lower Austria, who have created their own brochure with a fact check on wind energy. In Germany, the construction of wind turbines in forests has been a common practice for years, but in Austria this is still relatively new territory. Forests, usually far away from settlements, offer synergies for biomass and direct energy production,” explains Martin Litschauer.

“My thanks also go to EUROSOLAR Austria, the association has been fighting for the energy transition for decades and organizes the solar award ceremony. The closure of the coal-fired power plants in Austria has already been achieved. Now it’s about not only increasing the share of green electricity, but also implementing a 100% supply of renewable energy and making the industry climate-neutral. I hope that we continue to have a lot of energy for this,” says Martin Litschauer.