New Campaign by Windkraft Österreich

Under the motto “Lower Austria: Home of Secure Energy”, the campaign features people from Lower Austria who are proud of their power. And Windkraft Simonsfeld is playing a surprisingly prominent role, albeit in a rather understated way.

With a province-wide campaign, WINDKRAFT Österreich is putting the spotlight on people from Lower Austria who are proud of their power and have their own personal experiences with the wind. “Wind power in Lower Austria is a success that can be clearly quantified: Wind power brings around 3,500 jobs and more than €700 million in added value to the people of Lower Austria every year,” says Josef Plank, President of WINDKRAFT Österreich. He continues: “With this campaign, we want to say ‘thank you’ to all these tireless people. Thank you for your power.”
“With a total installed wind power capacity of around 2,400 MW, Lower Austria can confidently call itself the ‘Home of Secure Energy’,” emphasises Florian Maringer, Managing Director of WINDKRAFT Österreich. Austria still imports gas and oil from abroad, with up to €14 billion in taxpayers' money flowing abroad every year for this purpose.

People and Their Stories
Six campaign visuals in print and digital media, radio spots and authentic stories on social media will carry the campaign through the autumn over several weeks, starting immediately. The following people from the Windkraft Simonsfeld community are featured: Giving energy crises a piece of our mind: Christoph Meissl is a band conductor with heart and soul (pictured with his niece Vanessa). Whenever a new wind turbine is inaugurated or a wind festival is celebrated, the Ernstbrunn brass band (Korneuburg district) is there. There is independence to celebrate. When Russia reduced its gas supplies in 2022, energy prices exploded. In the first 44 days of the conflict alone, Europe paid €22 billion more for energy imports – not because more energy was consumed, but because prices had risen. Oil and gas have become weapons. However, no war, no cartel and no price shock on the commodity market can make the wind more expensive. The Strait of Hormuz? A wind turbine doesn't care.

A boost for regional businesses: Winemaker Anna Faber, organic bakers Nina and Marcus Kürrer, Gottfried Stark from the waste management company “Sauber & Stark”, IT service provider Norbert Lang and car dealership owner Doris Wenko – they are all successful entrepreneurs from Lower Austria. They support wind power and benefit directly or indirectly from “their” wind turbines. With more than €700 million in gross value added, wind power strengthens local businesses and actively creates jobs. All of this promotes economic growth in Austria's largest federal province.

Stable prices, just like our community: Helmut Arzt is the mayor of the municipality of Hauskirchen, Prinzendorf and Rannersdorf in the Weinviertel region. His home municipality, where he was born and raised and started his family, was once a major oil-producing municipality. “There used to be an absurdly large number of drilling and production rigs here. This was associated with a great deal of pollution,” Arzt recalls. “About 30 years ago, wind turbines actually brought relief. The drilling rigs disappeared. Now we have clean energy, environmentally friendly energy. That is very important to us as a municipality.” The municipality uses the revenue from wind power to finance infrastructure projects that it would otherwise be unable to afford.

All information about the campaign and the stories of people from Lower Austria can be found here: wind.at/danke-noe