Michael Pistauer is new President of VEÖ
Dr. Michael Pistauer, Verbund Chairman of the Board, has been elected new President of the Association of Austrian Electricity Companies (VEÖ).
In this office Pistauer succeeds Dr. Leo Windtner, General Director of Energie AG Oberösterreich, who held the position of President of VEÖ, i.e. the lobby of the Austrian Electricity Industry, from 2005 to 2008.
"This election is an expression of the strong amount of confidence in the integration potential of Dr. Michael Pistauer," says departing President Windtner, confirming the decision. Pistauer was President of VEÖ once before, in the years from 2002 to 2005; and, from 2005 to 2008, he was joint Vice President of VEÖ with Dr. Bruno Wallnöfer, Chairman of the Board of Tiroler Wasserkraft AG (Tiwag).
Concentrated utilization of hydropower and increase in efficiency
In the coming years, it will be the primary task of the Austrian electricity industry to collaborate in the establishment of a new energy system, which will be based mainly on renewable energy sources, massive energy savings and a significantly higher energy efficiency. "A decisive prerequisite of this goal is increased utilization of domestic hydropower in harmony with the population and the environment," says Pistauer.
Growing consumption of energy and electricity
Pistauer sees the coming years as being filled with "dramatically growing challenges": "Resources are dwindling; energy, however, and, in particular, electricity consumption, are apparently growing to no end. What is urgently needed, therefore, is a paradigm shift, indeed, a trend reversal is called for," the new VEÖ President emphasizes. According the Pistauer, the only way that the future of electricity supply can be safeguarded is if there is close collaboration of traditional central and new decentralized electricity systems. "Austria's electricity industry is already working intensively on a new future of electricity, as, for example, on a number of pilot projects focusing on intelligent electricity networks, the so-called smart grids. Now all we have to do is accelerate innovations at technological, economic and political level," Pistauer states.