The report provides a comprehensive knowledge base and high-resolution data on the potential impacts of climate change on Austria's energy infrastructure – from electricity and heating to gas.
New data and models for future-oriented energy planning
As part of the project, three key data and modelling components were developed that can help to enable more precise and regionally differentiated energy planning:
- ROBINE-AT: Indicators of climate-related hazards for Austria
https://zenodo.org/records/14697703 - ROBINE-AT Impact: Maps for analysing climate impact, applied in two case studies – transmission lines and wind turbines
https://zenodo.org/records/17063332 - ROBINE-AT Energy: Hourly energy demand and generation profiles for Austria at regional level
https://zenodo.org/records/15681180
These data sets enable, for the first time, a detailed regional assessment of changes in potential climate impacts and extreme weather events that are relevant to the energy sector. The knowledge base generated provides information on how this can be integrated into energy infrastructure planning and decision-making processes.
Key findings for a resilient energy system
The results clearly show that regional differences in climate risks play a significant role in the design and further development of energy infrastructures.
- East and valleys: Increasing heat stress and increased fire risk
- South: Increased risks due to heavy rainfall and mudslides
- West: More frequent dry spells and more intense storms and thunderstorms
Particularly critical is the finding that many extreme weather hazards increase disproportionately at higher global warming levels, such as three or four degrees. This underscores the need to limit global warming to two degrees if possible.
The impact on the energy system also varies significantly from region to region:
- Space heating demand: Decrease of between around ten and fifteen per cent (with two degrees of warming) and up to around thirty-five per cent (with four degrees of warming)
- Cooling demand: Increase of between around thirty and seventy per cent (two degrees) and up to more than two hundred per cent (four degrees)
- Wind energy generation hours: Regional differences between slight decrease and significant increase
- Photovoltaic generation hours: Slight decreases or slight increases
- Run-of-river hydropower: Regional differences with both positive and negative changes
Need for action from the perspective of stakeholders
Feedback from the energy industry, infrastructure operators and public institutions highlights a clear need for action:
- More resilient energy infrastructures and faster recovery after extreme weather events.
- Systematic consideration of regional climate risks such as heat, heavy rain, drought and storms.
- More robust facilities for wind, solar, hydro and thermal energy generation.
- Greater flexibility in the energy system through storage capacities, grid expansion and load management.
- Climate data with a focus on extreme events and practical risk and impact maps
ROBINE provides a precise, data-based foundation to help make Austria's energy system climate-resilient in the long term. The results offer decision-makers in politics, the energy industry and infrastructure management a valuable basis for developing robust and forward-looking measures to address climate change-related and weather-induced uncertainties.
The exploratory project is thus making a significant contribution to transforming the Austrian energy system to make it more sustainable and resilient.
Click here for the final report:
https://www.ait.ac.at/fileadmin/mc/energy/ROBINE_FO999905716_Publizierbarer_Endbericht_2025.pdf
project page: https://www.ait.ac.at/themen/energieszenarien-und-energiesystemplanung/robine
The ROBINE project was funded by the Climate and Energy Fund (KLIEN) as part of its energy research programme, tender focus 4 – Climate change adaptation of energy infrastructure.
