ASFINAG (Austrian Highway Company) works for more environmentally sustainable tunnels (from original German):

Start for implementation for one of the largest photovoltaic systems in Vorarlberg on the portals of the Pfänder tunnel
Completion planned until October 2024 - ASFINAG relies on the power of the sun in Vorarlberg in its own production of electricity

By 2030, ASFINAG plans to be electricity -strong - by reducing the general energy requirement by 20 percent and the expansion of its own electricity generation. In Vorarlberg, ASFINAG relies on the power of the sun.

The most ambitious Asfinag project is the Pfänder tunnel, which with its two tubes and the extensive technological safety equipment has an annual energy requirement of 3,500 megawatt hours per year. A few days ago, the starting signal for the implementation of this PV system was given. Photovoltaic systems with a total output of 670 kWp are created on both portals. From the point of view of ASFINAG, around a fifth of the tunnel energy consumption made of self -produced, sustainable electricity can be covered. On the north side, the PV system will have an output of 350 kWp, over 320 kWp on the south portal.

“For ASFINAG, such PV systems are essential component for the goal of being a electricity car in the balance sheet by 2030. We see great potential in Vorarlberg, especially in Vorarlberg. In addition to the extensive facility here on the Pfänder tunnel, we are going this path with projects with Wei

Roof, at the Amberg tunnel as well as at Gais or Nüziders. Our tunnels are the largest electricity consumers, with photovoltaics we can supply the safety devices with sustainable energy on site, ”said ASFINAG board member Hartwig Hufnagl and Herbert Kasser.

Energy Council Zadra is convinced that photovoltaics accelerates the energy transition: “The operation of tunnels consumes huge amounts of energy. Therefore, I am very pleased that ASFINAG now uses its own PV systems-especially on already sealed areas such as tunnel portals, they make sense, so to speak. Photovoltaic projects of this kind pay off for the company because renewable energies are the cheapest way to produce energy. But it also pays off for Vorarlberg: Because every single PV system brings us closer to our great goal of energy autonomy and saves CO2. ”

ASFINAG's own systems rely on solar power

ASFINAG is increasingly focusing on photovoltaics for the energy supply of its own systems. At the GAIS base, a PV system was put into operation at the beginning of the year with an energy yield of approx. 60 megawatt hours/year, which provides the necessary energy for the base - and in Bregenz, approx. 90 megawatt hours/year are used for the City Tunnel PV system generated on the roof of the BZ Weidach.

The Hohenems itself will also receive a PV system for supplying green electricity in the future. The system with more than 370 kWp is built there in the course of a comprehensive general renovation of the location, in which the entire electrical installations are also brought up to the latest state of the art.

Since 2020, the Amberg tunnel (A 14 Rhine Valley/Walgau Autobahn) has been in operation with an output of 270 kWP, which contributes more than 250 megawatt hours of electricity per year for tunnel operation. In addition, there are also plans for a PV system at Nüziders at ASFINAG in order to also enable the operation of the traffic control site via power of the sun.

source: ASFINAG press release .