Law and regulationEvent
Austria: new EAG rates for 2024–2025. Biogas 32.83 ct/kWh, biomass up to 25.75 ct/kWh
The ordinance of 14 March 2024 (BGBl. II 77/2024) sets market premium values for biomass and biogas for 2024–2025, together with tender dates.
Other language versions: polski.
The Austrian ordinance published on 14 March 2024 in the Federal Law Gazette (BGBl. II Nr. 77/2024) set new market premium values for energy from biomass and biogas, applicable to applications and bids in 2024–2025. For new biogas plants the applicable value (anzulegender Wert) is 32.83 ct/kWh, almost 22% more than the 27.00 ct/kWh in force since the end of 2022.
How the premium works in Austria
The Austrian Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG, BGBl. I Nr. 150/2021) provides for a market premium. It equals the difference between the applicable value (set in a tender or by ordinance) and the reference market price; if the difference is negative, the premium is zero. For biomass and biogas a monthly reference market price is used. Support is granted for 20 years from commissioning, and the values for biogas and some categories of biomass are set by ministerial ordinance, on the basis of expert reports.
Values for biogas
| Category | From 2024 | Value from 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Biogas, new installations | 32.83 ct/kWh | 27.00 ct/kWh |
| Biogas, existing (follow-up premium) | 23.83 ct/kWh | — |
Values for biomass
| Category | Capacity | Value |
|---|---|---|
| New, pure biomass | up to 50 kWel | 25.75 ct/kWh |
| New, pure biomass | above 50 kWel | 24.71 ct/kWh |
| New, waste, secondary fuels, bark, sawdust | all | 21.92 ct/kWh |
| Repowering, pure biomass | all | 22.91 ct/kWh |
| Repowering, waste and bark | all | 20.25 ct/kWh |
| Follow-up premium, pure biomass | up to 500 kWel | 15.72 ct/kWh |
| Follow-up premium, pure biomass | above 500 kWel | 11.44 ct/kWh |
| Follow-up premium, waste and bark | up to 500 kWel | 13.56 ct/kWh |
| Follow-up premium, waste and bark | above 500 kWel | 8.46 ct/kWh |
The follow-up premium (Nachfolgeprämie) is for existing installations that have completed their first support period. There are also separate values for power plants with extraction-condensing turbines: 14.99 ct/kWh for pure biomass and 11.82 ct/kWh for waste.
Tenders and caps
For new and repowered biomass installations, support can be obtained in a tender or on application at the values from the ordinance (table above). The bid cap in the tender is 19.32 ct/kWh for new and 18.14 ct/kWh for repowered installations; in 2022–2023 it was 18.22 and 17.47 ct/kWh respectively, i.e. an increase of approx. 6% and approx. 4%. The first tender is on 18 June 2024 (volume 15,000 kWel). The second is on 17 June 2025 (7500 kWel). The pool of premiums granted on application, without a tender, is 7500 kWel for biomass and 1500 kWel for biogas in each of 2024 and 2025.
What follows from this
For generators the most important point is that the moment of application determines the level of the premium: the values in force on the day of application apply, and applications submitted earlier are settled at the old rates. The increase for biogas was 5.83 ct/kWh. In zloty terms 32.83 ct/kWh is about PLN 1410/MWh (exchange rate about PLN 4.30 per euro, indicative, March 2024).
Sources
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