The photovoltaic plant recently installed by Enery in Krieglach will cover part of voestalpine Rotec GmbH’s green electricity demand, with additional projects across Central and Eastern Europe already in the pipeline.
With the commissioning of a photovoltaic plant comprising 3,800 solar panels in Krieglach, Styria, Enery and voestalpine Rotec have marked the beginning of a shared green energy future. Spread across 10,000 square meters, the installation now produces around 1.7 GWh of green electricity each year. That corresponds to 14 percent of the site’s electricity demand—or roughly the annual consumption of 337 households.
The PV installation is the first of several projects Enery is implementing for voestalpine in Central and Eastern Europe. Another plant is already under construction in Pardubice (Czechia) for Nedcon Bohemia, a subsidiary of the Metal Forming Division. That system will generate around 800 MWh per year and avoid approximately 320 tonnes of CO2 emissions compared with the Czech residual mix.
Long-Term Partnership and Planning Security
Enery CEO Richard König emphasizes the value of supplying electricity directly from the PV installation in Krieglach into voestalpine Rotec’s own on-site infrastructure. In this way, he says, the company can cover part of its demand with renewable energy generated on site. Alongside the environmental benefits, the plant also ensures long-term predictability and price security through a fixed electricity off-take tariff.
right to left: Richard König (CEO Enery), Michael Suppan (Standortleiter Krieglach voestalpine Rotec GmbH),
Patrick Seiser (Projektleiter voestalpine Rotec GmbH), Cristian Codrea (Head of Enery Industry Partnership)
Enery will also take care of operation and maintenance for the full duration of the contract, allowing voestalpine Rotec to remain focused on its core competencies. For Cristian Codrea, Head of Enery Industry Partnership, the project is a source of particular pride because it combines sustainability with an immediate operational effect. In his view, such solutions allow industrial customers in CEE not only to remain competitive, but also to manage the transformation required by the energy transition.
Enery Industry Partnership: A Different Kind of Partnership
The Krieglach project – like all Enery Industry Partnership projects – is structured as an on-site power purchase agreement, sometimes also referred to as on-site contracting. Under this model, Enery Industry Partnership is responsible for planning, permitting, financing, and operating the energy assets on an industrial customer’s premises or on adjacent open land, while supplying clean electricity directly to the customer at a fixed price. The customer, in turn, essentially provides the available space.
These models allow companies to use renewable energy without any upfront investment. Each partnership is a clear win-win arrangement: the energy producer secures a reliable buyer for clean electricity, while the customer locks in stable, attractive long-term power prices and reduces its CO2 emissions. The benefits are not only ecological, but economic as well – through reduced grid fees behind the meter and through long-term planning certainty and price security based on a fixed off-take tariff.