Our
Project

To secure the population's engagement and the opportunities of expanding renewable energy, regional players decided early on to develop a well-founded overall energy strategy. To this end, representatives from politics, organisations and public authorities worked together — for the first time in this form in Austria — to create a broadly supported strategy.

Working with recognised experts has created a network that enables a transparent, high-quality professional dialogue and will continue to support Regios as an advisory board.

Setting the course for regional participation and operator models, together with positive feedback from leading regional businesses on founding a cooperative, formed the ideal starting point for a regional energy transition benefiting citizens, businesses, municipalities and landowners.

After an intensive preparation phase, the Regios Energiegenossenschaft SCEmbH, based at Galgenau 28, 4240 Freistadt, was founded in July 2024. Its 41 founding members include citizens, entrepreneurs and municipalities from the Freistadt region — (see the founding photo from 17 July 2024).

Our
Potential

Low
land requirement

Taking into account all usable renewable energy potential, incl. the full rooftop PV build-out of around 125 MWp* and depending on the degree of expansion of planned wind energy projects, around 500 ha of open space will be needed to reach the 2040 target. That corresponds to 0.5% of the area of the Freistadt district.

* 56 MWp currently plus 69 MWp of future potential

Green instead of
fossil energy

The Freistadt region's current total energy consumption is around 1,500 GWh. Multiplying this figure by an average price of 12 cents/kWh gives total annual energy expenditure (excluding infrastructure costs) of around €180 million. With 60% of supply coming from fossil energy, this results in an outflow of purchasing power of over €100 million per year for the purchase of fossil energy.

Shared
wealth

The citizens of the Freistadt district hold €6 billion in gross financial assets. In 2022, gross financial assets per capita in Austria amounted to €90,170*. With 68,177 inhabitants in the Freistadt district**, this equates to regional gross financial assets of roughly €6 billion.

* published by Statista Research Department, 02/01/2024 ** as at 01/01/2024

Meet the team behind it. Who is behind Regios?