Austria

National procedural frameworks

Spatial planning law

The spatial planning law is a law belonging to the federal state. This means there are 9 different laws for spatial planning in Austria.
Nevertheless all these 9 laws regulate more or less the same.
The spatial planning law defines areas for different purposes. Usually waste heat utilization units are situated in a building. As soon as a building is needed the spatial law comes into force because buildings are only allowed to build within the foreseen building areas.

Link spatial planning law Burgenland:
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=LrBgld&Gesetzesnummer=10000072

Building law and building regulation

Also the building law and the building regulation is a federal state law which means that there are also 9 different building laws and regulations in Austria.
The building law regulates the requirements, the procedure for applying for a building permission as well as the implementation and inspection of buildings. Furthermore the building authorities and the building regulations are defined.

According to the building law the building regulation describes technical requirements concerning following fields:

Common technical requirements
Mechanical solidity and stability
Fire protection
Hygiene, healthiness and environmental protection
User safety and accessibility
Noise protection
Energy saving and heat insulation
Guidelines and exceptions
Special provisions

Link building law Burgenland:
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=LrBgld&Gesetzesnummer=10000504

Link building regulation Burgenland:
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=LrBgld&Gesetzesnummer=20000684

Emission protection law

Actually, the emission protection law regulates all issues concerning the emissions from steam generators, gas turbines, gas engines and all plants that are technically combined with them.
Furthermore also waste heat utilization plants of certain sizes are mentioned within this law.

The law consists of following main parts:

Common requirements
Emissions and immissions (incl. emission limits)
Permission of plants
Controlling
Duties of the operator
Requirements according to other national laws
Adaptation to best available technologies

Link emission protection law:
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=20008506

Trade, commerce and industry regulation act

This law regulates all issues concerning the exercise of a trade, commerce or industrial company.
So if the waste heat utilisation unit is operated in a commercial way (to earn money with it) the trade, commerce and industry regulation act comes into force. If the waste heat utilization plant is operated only for private purposes this law don’t needs to be considered.

The trade, commerce and industry regulation act contains following main chapters:

Field of application
Classification of trades
Common requirements for exercising a trade
Special requirements for exercising a trade (certificate of competence)
Charitableness of requirements for exercising trades
Range of trade authorization
Exercising of trades
Industrial installations
End and resting of trade authorizations
Regulations for single trades
Regulized trades
Free trades
Markets
Authorities and procedures
Special procedures

Link trade, commerce and industry regulation act:
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10007517

Heat and cooling network development law

Aim of this law is to use the existing energy and CO₂ reducing potential whereas the security of supply, a balanced enery mix and a reduction of the use of primary energy should be considered.

Based on an investment subsidy following aspects should be considered:

Cost effective CO₂ reduction
Increase of energy efficiency
The building of cooling networks should reduce the increase of electricity use for air conditioning
Reduce emissions
Cost efficient use of existing heat and waste heat potentials (especially industrial)
Use of renewable energy sources for development of regional heat supply in rural areas
Accelerate development of district heating systems in congested urban areas

Within this law all aspects concerning subsidy requirements, kind of subsidies, sources for the subsidies, administration of the subsidies as well as the subsidy contract are considered.

Link heat and cooling network development law:
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=20005917

Cogeneration law

The cogeneration law is an Austrian wide law and regulates mainly the subsidy of cogeneration plants. Aim of this law is to foster the building of new or reconstruction of existing high efficient cogenerarion plants in order to produce electricity and heat in a resource saving way.
According to this aim the law says that cogeneration plants get an investment subsidy as far as they don’t get other national subsidies. For different plants with different power ratings the subsidy amount is defined within the law.
Furthermore it is also defined that end users have to pay a cogeneration amount which is different for the different network levels.

Link cogeneration law:
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=20005916

Law for district heating subsidies

This law describes that subsidies can be provided for the development of district heating projects. These subsidies also can be provided for waste heat utilization plants.

The law for district heating subsidies considers following aspects:

Scope of application
Subsidy for district heating production plants (incl. waste heat plants)
Subsidy for district heating networks (incl. waste heat)
Basics of the subsidy
Kind of the subsidy
Subsidy for the development of concepts and studies (waste heat cadastre)
Handling of subsidies

Link district heating subsidies law:
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10006731

Environmental permits

Environmental impact assessment – law

The aim of the EIA (UVP) is:

to avoid environmental damage according to the precautionary principle
to consider the environmental impact comprehensively, not just separately
to achieve better preparation of projects and approval procedures
to increase importance of environmental concerns
to involve the public during the approval procedures and make it much more transparent and comprehensible.

The UVP-G 2000 law takes into consideration the following types:

waste treatment plants
thermal power plants
roads and railroad tracks
ski areas
airfields
piping
amusement parks, shopping malls
raw material extraction
hydropower plants
factory farming
clearings
industrial plants (for example: chemical plants, iron and steel works, paper and pulp mills, foundries, cement plants, refineries, breweries, animal carcass processing)

If the project is obliged to do an EIA is regulated in Annex I of the law and depends on a certain size.

Link to EIA-Law:
https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/GeltendeFassung.wxe?Abfrage=Bundesnormen&Gesetzesnummer=10010767

1) What provisions regulate waste heat utilization activities in project partner's country?	Spatial planning law Building law and building regulation Trade, commerce and industry regulation act Cogeneration law Heat and cooling network development law Emission protection law Law for district heating subsidies
2) What legislative instruments cover area of environmental protection? Please, provide a list of the instruments, regulations?	Emission protection law Waste management concept Waste treatment duties law Air pollution control and heating systems act Burgenland
3) What provisions lay down the conditions under which permission is granted and thresholds for specific WH projects?	The provisions above cover the conditions concerning environmental protection also for waste heat utilization units. The overall permission will be given by the commerce and industry authority according to the Trade, commerce and industry regulation act mentioned at point 1)
4) Information to relevant regulatory authority giving the registration (e.g. specialized government body, certified laboratory for testing agricultural inputs, etc.)? Please, provide full titles and addresses of the institutions and describe their roles in the process.i>	The responsible authority which gives the permission to operate a waste heat utilization unit is the commerce and industry authority. Which commerce and industry authority belongs to a certain project belongs to the location. Usually the district headquater, the city magistrate or the district office (only in Vienna) includes the commerce and industry authority. In Austria there are 9 federal states with all together 79 district headquarters. So the address belongs to the district the waste heat utilization unit is located. A list of a map and a list with districts in Austria can be found at the following link below.

Checklist

Checklist about usual needed documents for the application for a facility site permission.

CHECKLIST		open	completed	not required
*General documents (available from the municipal authority)*
	General plan including the zoning plan
	Name and address of property owner and the owners of the neighboring properties
*Building documents*
	Site plan (scale 1 : 250, 1 : 500, from municipal authority), accurately scaled depiction of: plant nearest properties, buildings of neighbors and possible other issuing groups
	Permit plan (scale 1 : 100), with floor and outline plans and cutting (construction drawings)
	Description of construction (information about compliance with laws is evident)
*Worker protection legislation*
	Business description, plans/concepts and other description to proof the compliance with the relevant provisions of worker protection. Following information should be indicated:
	Employment figures
	Kind of business, products and working materials
	Size, high and location of the working areas, operational rooms, common room and storage space
	Exits, emergency escape routes and traffic routes
	Work equipment and location
	Sanitary facilities
	Protective measures for fall protection, gases and vapours, dust, noise, vibration and other impairments
	Exposure, light, heating and ventilation
	Safety cover and health protection documentation, if it is already possible at this stage
	Fire protection concept (e.g. fire detection system, extinguishers system, hydrant, …)
*Documents for mechanical engineering and environmental evaluation*
General information:
	Capacity and power of the plant or plant components
	Operation time (e.g. shift operation)
	Type and quantity of input materials of intermediates, byproducts and final products, diverse stored goods, residuals and waste materials.
Mechanical engineering information:
	Machine register: Manufacturer specifications about devices, machines, lifting devices, transportation
	Installation plan of machines (scale 1 : 100)
	Description of fundamentals of process, necessaire work steps and operating conditions
	General flow chart of operating steps
	Process flow chart
	Heating and ventilation schematic with emission sources
Environmental information:
Emission of air pollutants	Orographic information (about terrain) and meteorological conditions (weather, wind, etc.)
	Emission data (Measure/calculation) Exhaust volume flows Mass emission of pollutants Concentration of pollutant
	Total amount and broken down into Possible operating conditions Emission sources Type of pollutant
	Technical data for chimney, air vents,.. (High, wide, temperature of volume flow,
	Description of measurements for prevention and reduction of emissions
Water	Documents about wastewater (quantity, quality, condition, concentration of constituents)
Water	Documents about wastewater cleaning systems (function, cleaning efficiency, used chemicals, …)
a) Discharge into sewers	Agreement with sewage treatment plants
b) discharge into drainage channels	Information about drainage (water quality, water channel flow, temperature,…) and water relevant permit
c) storage, pipe, trading water-polluting substances	Information about storage tank, collecting pans, pipelines in connection with storage and manipulation of Plans
Noise and mechanical vibrations	Information about noise data or reference that there is no considerable noise source. By ventilation systems information about noise emission for entrance and exit vent.
	Documents about set noise protection measures
	List of machines with mechanical vibration and measures for protection
	Information about traffic noise (arrival and departure, charging activities
Waste	Waste management plan (Description of waste (type, quantity), measures of prevention, storage, recovery and disposal

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