Milestones
Due to the size of the planned power plant, the project is subject to a more detailed licensing procedure and the environmental impact (EID/EIA) of the project must be demonstrated. For this purpose, numerous studies of the natural area have to be carried out and the impact of the project on the environment has to be explained and ultimately evaluated.
was launched with the first submission
Due to a mudslide in August 2017, the penstock route in the Raneburg area had to be adapted. Following the revision of the project, a new public consultation was held in the municipality of Matrei in East Tyrol from 26 March until 22 May 2018. During this public consultation period, citizens had the opportunity to submit written comments or objections to the revision to the EIA authority.
The environmental impact certificate (EIC) was published at the same time. This includes the expert opinions of the auditors appointed by the authority.
Following this, on 24 May 2018, the public discussion took place
in the parish hall of the market town of Matrei in East Tyrol. This served as a discussion forum with a hearing in advance of the oral proceedings. The oral proceedings took place in Innsbruck between 4 June 2018 and 7 June 2018.
The positive approval was issued by the Office of the Regional Government of Tyrol as the authority of first instance on 13 May 2019. Several complaints were filed against this decision. These were ultimately dealt with by the Austrian Federal Administrative Court in September 2020.
With the decision of the Austrian Federal Administrative Court of 18 March 2022, the decision for the Tauernbach-Gruben expansion project became final and legally binding.
In 2006, the owner of TIWAG, the Regional Government of Tyrol, entrusted TIWAG-Tiroler Wasserkraft AG with the planning of a hydropower plant on the Tauernbach in East Tyrol and with all preparations for the realisation. The original project envisaged a reservoir on the Tauernbach near Raneburg. The power plant, designed as a pumped storage power plant with a tailwater basin, would have been provided at the exit of the Prosseggklamm gorge. In the course of the dialogue with all those directly involved and the population, considerable concerns were raised about this power plant concept. TIWAG-Tiroler Wasserkraft AG therefore decided to go without the storage variant despite considerable energy-related disadvantages. The discharge power plant was submitted and approved.
The discharge power plant originally envisaged the use of the downhill stretch from the Schildalm mountain pastures to Matrei. The Proseggklamm gorge above Matrei is considered a natural treasure. The Austrian Alpine Club and the "Naturerbe Prosegg" (Prosegg Natural Heritage) citizens' initiative objected to the effects on the nature experience in the Proseggklamm gorge due to the lower water flow in the Tauernbach stream. The municipality of Matrei in East Tyrol asked TIWAG to refrain from using the Proseggklamm gorge in the final submission variant. An economically viable and technically feasible variant could be found in the project as it exists now.
The lateral feeder to the Tauernbach stream near Gruben, the Frosnitzbach stream and the Proseggklamm gorge are not affected by the project and will retain their natural appearance.