W.E.B Production Results December 2023

The year 2023 was the warmest year globally on record, even perhaps the warmest over the last 125,000 years. Temperatures ended up hovering at a level about 1.5°C higher than the pre-industrial age. This means it already reached the critical threshold stipulated in the Paris Agreement on climate change. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events on all continents, accompanied by forest fires, the world’s oceans at record temperatures and melting glaciers, all served as powerful indications of rapidly progressing and fully evident global warming and the related climate change.

The start of the year 2023 already showed how things would develop. The temperature was close to 20°C in Austria on New Year’s Day. The high global temperatures led to many forest fires early on in the USA and Canada. Even Nova Scotia was impacted. Clouds of smoke from raging fires even darkened the skies on the East Coast of the USA on 160 days. Temperatures far surpassing 40°C were not uncommon in Europe. Climate change also had far-reaching consequences here such as forest fires and weather extremes such as flooding and hailstorms.

The rapid reduction of consumption of energy generated by fossil fuels and the transition to energy from renewable sources are key building blocks to counteract global warming and environmental pollution. Even in a year marked by below-average wind conditions, W.E.B also made a positive contribution by producing more green electricity than ever before. The level of 1,468 GWh was below the planned annual target but still represented a new record high of green energy and thus the highest annual savings of CO2 emissions ever recorded by the company.

Mild, stormy December – monthly production above target
Total monthly power generation in December 2023 equalled 162,319 MWh, above the targeted level.

In the first two ten-day periods in December, a high-pressure system ensured stability and hardly allowed for an exchange of air masses. However, the final ten days led to a powerful storm front accompanied by high winds. Thanks to the mild temperatures, the shutdowns relating to icy weather were limited, enabling W.E.B wind power facilities to optimally exploit the prevailing conditions. Austria came close to a precision landing when it came to the yearly production results, whereas Germany and Italy were below target. In contrast, Czechia and France achieved great and positive production results. The targeted production figures were out of reach in Canada and the USA.

In the photovoltaic power segment, Austria, Germany and the USA performed below expectations, whereas Italy and Czechia clearly exceeded the defined production targets.

The hydroelectric power segment in both Austria and in Germany concluded the year above target.

Overview based on technology

Wind power

• Total production: +0.6%
• Wind power plant with the best relative results: Schenkenfelden +82.9%
• Wind power plant with the strongest total production: Dürnkrut III 1,808 MWh

Solar power

• Total production: –9.7%
• Best relative plant results: Conza +57.8%

Hydroelectric power:

• Total production: +96.4%

Production to date
W.E.B production results in December 2023: 162,319 MWh
Percentage of annual production: 94.26%