Vienna International Airport to use environmentally friendly district heating from OMV Schwechat
VIENNA, Austria, 2021-Dec-02 — /Travel PR News/ — OMV Schwechat Refinery will provide environmentally sound district heating for Vienna International Airport from the first half of 2022 by using its industrial waste heat. The airport intends to make its operations carbon-neutral by end of 2023.
The “Green Airport” goal is now within reach for Vienna International Airport with its environmentally friendly district heating – with this, CO2 emissions are reduced by 85% vs 2012. The goal of making Vienna-Schwechat airport’s entire operations a net-zero emissions zone is set to become a reality by the end of 2023.
OMV CEO and Chairman of the OMV Executive Board Alfred Stern: “By expanding OMV’s Schwechat district heating hub, we are going to transform industrial waste heat from our Schwechat Refinery into environmentally sound district heating”.
“Expanding the OMV Schwechat district heating hub will help reduce carbon intensity of our business activities at the same time as improve energy efficiency of the Schwechat Refinery. It shows how our industry can make a valuable contribution to a lower-carbon future. I am pleased that we have managed to bring on board one of our biggest customers – Vienna International Airport – for this environmentally friendly district heating”, said Alfred Stern.
Airport chief Günther Ofner, Member of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG: “An 85% reduction in CO2 emissions for Vienna International airport operations to date; net-zero CO2 emissions from operations from the end of 2023”.
“Switching to environmentally friendly district heating will deliver a CO2 reduction of 85% in 2022 versus 2012 and is a major milestone on our path to becoming a “Green Airport” with net-zero operations. The big goal of making our airport operations completely CO2-neutral will be achieved by the end of 2023. Other factors in achieving this include our photovoltaic plant with 30 MW capacity, around 400 electric vehicles, and many other measures. This makes us a trailblazer among airports”, said Günther Ofner.
OMV is extending its district heating supply by expanding the Schwechat hub
OMV will extend the existing supply of its district heating network by expanding the district heating hub in the Schwechat Refinery. OMV will use the waste heat from the desulfurization plant, one of the diesel production units, and the vacuum distillation unit in the OMV Schwechat Refinery and turn it into environmentally friendly district heating. The heat recovery plant will start up in the first half of 2022. The expansion of the OMV Schwechat district heating hub is subsidized by funds from the environmental stimulus program by the Federal Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology.
21,000 tons CO2 savings per year in airport system
One of the largest recipients of this new, environmentally friendly, district heating is Vienna International Airport. With supply via a direct connection to the OMV Schwechat Refinery, the entire airport and its 150 or so buildings will have district heating piped in directly. This will save around 21,000 metric tons of CO2 per year. This project brings Vienna International Airport a big step closer to its goal of becoming Europe’s first green airport, reducing its CO2 emissions by 85% vs. 2012. The airport is on track to make its entire operations CO2-neutral by the end of 2023.
30 MW capacity for generating photovoltaic energy at the airport
The airport is implementing additional measures on its path to net zero:
With a surface area of 24 hectares, Austria’s largest photovoltaic (PV) plant is currently taking shape on the grounds of the airport. Around 55,000 PV panels will deliver output of around 24-megawatt peak. Upon start-up in spring 2022, Vienna International Airport will operate a total of eight PV units and produce around 30 kilowatt hours of electricity. This will allow the airport to meet around a third of its energy demand with solar power. In addition, the airport has been gradually switching its fleet over to electromobility. Office Park 4, which started operating in 2020, uses geothermal energy and has won multiple awards as Austria’s most sustainable office building. ‘Smart City’ control software developed in cooperation with the Vienna University of Technology assists in optimizing energy use in existing and future buildings.
The aviation industry’s overall commitment to combating climate change has increased significantly. In fact, the percentage of global CO2 emissions generated by air travel is low: air travel is only responsible for around 2.7% of CO2 emissions worldwide. Within Europe, the figure is 0.52% and in Austria just 0.16%.
OMV Aktiengesellschaft
OMV produces and markets oil and gas, as well as chemical products and solutions in a responsible way and develops innovative solutions for a circular economy. With Group sales revenues of EUR 17 bn and a workforce of around 25,000 employees in 2020 (incl. Borealis), OMV is one of Austria’s largest listed industrial companies. In Exploration & Production, OMV has a strong base in Central and Eastern Europe as well as a balanced international portfolio, with Middle East & Africa, the North Sea, Russia and Asia-Pacific as core regions. Daily average production was 463,000 boe/d in 2020 with an emphasis on natural gas. In Refining & Marketing, OMV operates three refineries in Europe and owns a 15% share in ADNOC Refining and ADNOC Global Trading, with a total processing capacity of more than 500,000 bbl/d. Furthermore, OMV operates about 2,100 filling stations in ten European countries and runs gas storage facilities in Austria and Germany. In 2020, total natural gas sales volumes amounted to around 164 TWh. In Chemicals & Materials, OMV, together with its subsidiary Borealis, is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced and circular polyolefin solutions and a European market leader in base chemicals, fertilizers and the mechanical recycling of plastics. The company supplies services and products to customers around the globe through Borealis and its two important joint ventures: Borouge (with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, or ADNOC, based in UAE) and Baystar™ (with Total, based in the US). Sustainability is an integral part of OMV’s corporate strategy. OMV supports the transition to a lower-carbon economy and has set measurable targets for reducing carbon intensity as well as for the implementation of new energy and petrochemical solutions.
Contact:
Flughafen Wien AG
Peter Kleemann, Spokesperson
Tel.: (+43-1-) 7007-23000
E-Mail: p.kleemann@viennaairport.com
Website: www.viennaairport.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/flughafenwien
Twitter: twitter.com/flughafen_wien
OMV Public Relations:
Andreas Rinofner
Tel.: +43 1 40440 21357, E-mail: public.relations@omv.com
Web: http://www.omv.com
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http://omv-mediadatabase.com
Social: http://twitter.com/omv
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Source: Vienna International Airport
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