Vienna equips City Hall with solar roof panels

The Austrian capital sets a shining example without compromising historical integrity

Vienna aims to be climate neutral by 2040 and a big part of this will be delegated to the so-called ‘solar power offensive’ policy, which will seek to add photovoltaic systems the size of 100 football fields every year. And most of this will take place on roofs, which are the urban spaces that are most often neglected and underutilized in any city.

And even historical buildings will not be spared from this transformation. Case in point – the local administration has announced that recently the last panels were installed on the roof of the Vienna City Hall itself. And the installation will begin producing its own electricity at the end of this month.

City Hall Power Plant

The impressive Neo-Gothic building of the Vienna City Hall was built in the 1870s and 1880s during the Austro-Hungarian empire and for a very brief period it was even the world’s tallest building.

The 572 solar modules which complete the PV installation, however, will not be visible from the ground so as not to spoil the authentic appearance of the structure, which is also a cultural monument. They can only be seen from a drone or an aircraft.

In terms of power production capacity, the calculated yield will be around 223,000 kilowatt hours, which is enough to supply the energy needs of 110 households.

The renewable energy production will result in annual CO2 savings of around 130 tonnes.

The City Hall is not the first public building in Vienna to be equipped with a solar roof. There have been eight such already and four more are in development.

Currently, there are 252 photovoltaic systems with a total output of around 34 MWp on city-owned land.