Leading the Way in Hydro Power

VERBUND is Austria’s leading energy supplier, employing nearly 3,000 staff and producing 40% of Austria’s total electricity requirements. 90% of the energy it creates comes from hydro power, which represents the second highest proportion in Europe. The company achieved a turnover of €3.5bn in 2009, and runs 137 power stations.		Name: Verbund AG Address: Am Hof 6a 1010 Wien Austria Phone: +43 (0)50313-0 E-mail: information@verbund.com WWW: www.verbund.com Company management: Wolfgang Anzengruber \| Chairman “One of the key challenges of the 21st century is the rising demand for energy.” Ms Schurin

Outside of Austria, VERBUND has heavily invested in several key markets, holding shares in the following companies: Poweo (France, 46 %), Sorgenia (Italy, 45 %), EnerjiSA (Turkey, 50%), and Energji Ashta (Albania 50 %). With dwindling fossil fuel resources and increasing demand for power, VERBUND is striving to become the leading hydro power supplier in Europe, making significant investments over the next five years to achieve this goal. Investing into the Future Investment is high on the agenda for VERBUND. Having recently invested in selected international markets such as France and Turkey, the company is now focusing on becoming the leading provider of electricity from hydro power in Europe. To this end, it will be investing €2.4bn over the next five years, a large share of which will be spent on increasing capacity within Austria. In 2009, the company already acquired 13 hydro power plants in Bavaria, Germany, increasing production by 7%. Furthermore, VERBUND is advocating the use of highly efficient and environment-friendly CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine) plants in Europe, having launched one in France in 2009, one in Italy as well as one in Turkey in 2010 and currently constructing one more in Italy. In terms of hydro power stations, VERBUND is currently running 123 plants in Austria and Bavaria, with a combined output of 7,500 MW. Further plants are under construction in Austria which will add another 520 MW when completed, and a further 1,395 MW worth of power stations are in the planning stages at the moment. Add to this another 1,100 MW from plants under construction with its partners in France, Italy, Albania and Turkey, and it becomes clear that VERBUND is set on achieving its goals. Ines Schurin, VERBUND international spokesperson, explains: “Simply put, we want to make electricity more environment-friendly. By increasing the output of our existing power stations and constructing more efficient new ones, in particular those driven by hydro power, we are creating energy that is low or free from CO2 emissions; in addition, we are keen to explore new applications and technologies such as electric mobility and energy management.” To further strengthen the company and increase its financial flexibility to enable the planned investments, VERBUND has realized a capital increase of €1bn in November 2010. Listed on the Vienna and Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the Austrian government holds a 51% majority stake, which it will continue to do following the increase. Austrian Mobile Power As the No.1 electricity producer in Austria, VERBUND takes its environmental responsibility very seriously and participates actively in initiatives for ‘electric mobility’. Having teamed up with Magna and Siemens Austria, VERBUND has founded the open platform ‘Austrian Mobile Power’, which is aiming to revolutionise the future of transportation by helping to put at least 200,000 electric cars on Austria’s roads over the next decade. “One of the key challenges of the 21st century is the rising demand for energy”, Ms Schurin outlines. “Current prognoses predict a 45% increase in demand by 2030, making it ever more vital to secure the supply, as at the same time reserves of fossil fuels will begin to dry up. This is why we, along with our partners, see electric mobility as THE technology to keep us moving in the future – provided that the power required to run the vehicles can be sourced using renewable energy. Out of the 4.3m cars currently registered in Austria, 200,00 will run on electricity by 2020.” Visions for a Greener Future VERBUND is increasingly focusing its efforts on innovation, research and development in order to increase the proportion of renewable sources of energy in the overall energy mix in Europe - currently dominated by fossil fuels. The key areas of focus are electric mobility and hydro power, and the company is taking a leadership role in finding innovative solutions for an energy system that satisfies the increasing demand in a cost-effective way, without causing strain on the environment. VERBUND is in a position to supply a significant proportion of the required energy for new applications in Austria using renewable resources. For instance, by 2015 it will be able to provide an additional 1bn kWh from local renewable sources – enough to power 500,000 electric cars. Ines Schurin: “A not altogether distant vision we are pursuing is an energy system that is made up of a mixture of central and decentralised production units (such as solar cells on individual homes), which will be controlled by a ‘smart grid’ with ‘smart meters’. We are actively working with research facilities and trade partners on making this type of power system of the future a reality.” Silke Humphrys

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