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January
1 January: Wolfgang Anzengruber is named the new chairman of Verbund’s managing board.
28 January: Verbund and Sabanci sign a purchase agreement with the Turkish government in Ankara for the distribution grid company Başkent EDAŞ, which supplies some three million end customers in the Ankara region with energy.
29 January: Just a short time after upgrades are implemented in the control technology of the Dürnrohr power plant, efficiency, gas consumption and start-up time improve greatly.
February
5 February: The foundation stone is laid for Kaprun’s modern central and apprentice workshop in Kaprun. Verbund is investing € 9.4 million and creating 60 new apprenticeships in the next four years.
18 February: As president of Elektrizitätsunternehmen Österreich (VEÖ) Wolfgang Anzengruber presents the energy package in red-white-red. This is scheduled to generate investments of more than € 15 billion while securing more than 100,000 jobs by 2020.
March
23 March: Verbund receives the 2009 Neptun Wasserpreis (Neptune water prize) for the new fish passes at the Villach power plant.
25 March: Verbund’s VERENA 2007 research prize for renewable energies, worth a total of € 12,000, is awarded to four Austrian scientists in Vienna.
April
2 April: Verbund awards the first women’s scholarship at the Vienna University of Technology.
3 April: Verbund signs a contract for the 30 MW Canakkale wind farm in Turkey.
8 April: Verbund issues a € 500 million bond on the European capital market. The transaction is oversubscribed seven times within two hours.
20 April: Verbund sponsors the master’s programme “Renewable Energy in Central and Eastern Europe” at the Technical University of Vienna.
23 April: On the 6th “Bring your daughter to work day”, 25 daughters of Verbund employees learn about technical vocations.
May
1 May: Verbund raises the price of electricity for end customers in Austria, but remains the cheapest provider throughout much of the country.
4 May: Young Styrian women get to know “typical male” jobs at the Styrian Girls’ Day in the Mellach power plant as they watch operations from an up close and personal angle.
12 May: Verbund enters into a 16 MW wind power project in Bulgaria. The wind farm on the Black Sea coast is scheduled to start up operations in 2010.
25 May: The groundbreaking ceremony is held for a 48 MW hydropower plant in Ashta, northern Albania. Verbund also opens an office in Tirana.
June
2 June: Verbund takes second place in the 2009 Wiener Börse (Vienna Stock Exchange) competition in the categories of corporate governance and sustainability.
5 June: CEO Anzengruber receives the symbolic key for the three wind farms purchased by Verbund at Bruck an der Leitha, Hollern and Petronell-Carnuntum with a total of 49 MW power.
29 June: Verbund offers private Austrian households a solar energy package. This covers everything from a single source, from technical planning to subsidy processing and assembly to collection of electricity.
30 June: The 380 kV Styria line is commissioned after nearly two years’ construction time.
30 June: Verbund employees collect 50 large bags and ten boxes of toys and clothing for needy persons in western Ukraine.
July
8 July: Verbund issues another bond on the European capital market for € 840 million. The transaction is oversubscribed six times within a few hours.
19 July: At the mountain reservoirs of Kaprun, “Nature and Technology”, a major children’s festival, is held on the banks of the Mooserboden reservoir.
22 July: “Austrian Mobile Power”, the platform launched by Verbund for e-mobility, is presented to the public together with partners Siemens Austria, Magna and other companies The programme is designed to bring Austria into the age of electromobility.
31 July: The Salzach power plant Werfen/Pfarrwerfen, a joint facility of Verbund and Salzburg AG, opens. The hydropower plant has a maximum output of 16 MW and generates 76 GWh of energy a year.
August
3 August: The Verbund grid subsidiary begins construction of the 380 kV Salzburg line. The portion between Salzach neu (S) and St. Peter am Hart (Upper Austria) is scheduled to be commissioned in early 2011.
September
1 September: Verbund signs an agreement to acquire 13 hydropower plants on the Inn River in Bavaria. The facilities purchased from E.ON in Germany have a total output of 312 MW and generate more than 1.8 TWh a year.
1 September: A record number of 45 young persons begin their apprenticeships in the dual vocation of electrical and mechanical engineering at Verbund.
16 September: Verbund’s three-day energy conference “energy2020” begins in Fuschl. Its theme is “global energy challenge – time to act”. Verbund pledges its commitment to climate-friendly upgrades in the energy infrastructure and forecasts a higher electricity share in total energy consumption.
23 September: Verbund increases its share in POWEO to some 46%, becoming the largest single shareholder of France’s largest independent energy provider and taking over operational management.
28 September: Poweo commissions the wind farm “Pare Eolien du Plateau de Langres” with six plants at 2 MW each, thereby raising its production capacity in this area of renewable energy production to 85 MW. The wind farm will produce 26 GWh a year.
30 September: The first photovoltaics plant from Verbund’s solar energy package is installed in Krems.
October
1 October: After just 2.5 years of construction time, the main work on the expansion of the power plant in Hieflau has been concluded; the plant can now generate an additional 100 GWh of of electricity a year.
5 October: Verbund invests 4.5 million in the modernisation of Berghotel Malta near Kölnbreinsperre. The renovation represents a significant investment and strong impetus for Upper Carinthia’s tourism. It will open in summer 2010.
29 October: In Vienna, the new control centre for the inter-regional Austrian electricity grid is opened. It took two years to construct the “Power Grid Control”, with the total investment amounting to approximately € 19 million.
November
4 November: “Verbund Stromhilfe der Caritas” is founded in Vienna to help households in need throughout Austria to sustainably lower their energy costs. Verbund donates € 1 for each end customer per year; the initial donation was more than € 200,000.
12 November: Verbund’s VERENA 2008 research prize, worth a total of € 12,000, is awarded to four young Austrian scientists in Vienna.
16 November: Verbund receives the basic certificate for the “Work and Family Audit”.
18 November: Verbund is named “Long Term Winner” at the 10th Austrian Sustainability Reporting Awards (ASRA).
19 November: Verbund and TIWAG agree that the Verbund grid subsidiary will handle operations for the Tyrolean extra high voltage grid used for inter-regional energy transport. Going forward, Verbund will be responsible for general transmission to 95% of the federal region.
25 November: Sammlung Verbund presents the first book on the works of Austrian artist Birgit Jürgenssen. The monograph is published six years after Jürgenssen’s death; in 2009 she would have been 60.
26 November: Strem, Virgen and Gleisdorf are Austria’s winning climate protection municipalities for 2009. They won the competition of Verbund, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management and the Austrian Association of Municipalities, which was held this year for the second time.
December
1 December: With Verbund Empowerment Fund der Diakonie, Verbund helps persons with disabilities in Austria lead more independent lives, including with the use of electrical technical communication devices. The fund donates € 1 to each end customer; in all, some 40,000 persons benefit from this cooperation.
10 December: Verbund wins 2nd place in the CSR ranking of the Center for Corporate Citizenship Austria (CCCA) that evaluates the social responsibility of major Austrian companies.
