Austria’s SkiWelt Region Celebrates 20 Years of Being Green Energy Powered
Austria’s SkiWelt Region Celebrates 20 Years of Being Green Energy Powered
Published : 13-Jun-2023 07:50
Austria's SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser - Brixental region, one of the largest in the country and the world, has clocked up two decades of being hydro-electricity powered.
Established in 1977 when the various ski areas it is made up of inter-connected, the region has grown to include 83 modern lifts, 270 km of piste and 80 mountain huts.
Along with hydroelectric power for all lifts and snowmaking since 2002, the SkiWelt, located in Tirol region, has made increasing investment in local solar energy in recent years, notably from 2008 on the "Sonnenlift" at SkiWelt Brixen, one of the first completely solar-powered lifts in the world. Photovoltaic units are also on the Jochlift and Zinsbergbahn lifts.
Since spring 2022, after the rebuilt valley and mountain stations, the Ellmau lift operations have also been powered with solar energy. With 350 kilowatts peak, in the future, the systems will be able to save up to 50 percent in external electricity and energy costs for the buildings.
Renewable energy is also used to heat SkiWelt's office buildings. In addition to pellets and biomass, we are increasingly using waste heat from lift systems, snow guns and transformers, often with the assistance of heat pumps connected to lifts including the Hexenwasserbahn at Söll, SkiWeltBahn at Brixen im Thale and the Alpenrosenbahn in Westendorf. Since 2008, the Choralpe mountain restaurant has been kept warm with waste heat from the SkiWeltbahn and Choralmbahn.
In other developments, the region's 65 snow groomers have been equipped with a GPS system for the last five years ago which allow snow depths to be measured and then, if necessary, fresh snow can be distributed precisely to where it is actually needed. This means that every year since 2017 the SkiWelt has saved around 25% of its water requirements, electricity and costs.
With travel to and from ski resorts the biggest contributor to climate change when it comes to a ski holiday, the SkiWelt's villages have a long history of making good decisions, even before CO2 emissions being a problem were known about.
More than 75 years ago, the site of the Hopfgarten cable car was deliberately situated right next to the train station. So SkiWelt Hopfgarten now has a train station, also called "Skilift", and it is only around 100m away from the Hopfgarten lift valley station.
More than 20 years ago, SkiWelt arranged for ski train services from Munich and Denmark to Brixental and right from the start was a pilot partner for the ÖBB Nightjet and the ÖBB Winter-Kombiticket. The Kombiticket includes return sleeper train tickets, seat reservation and 3, 4, 5 or 6 day ski pass. Thanks to the easy overnight journey and the associated early arrival at the accommodation by around 9am, guests gain an extra day on vacation, as well as helping the planet.
Since last winter guests can also now travel overnight from Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Amsterdam to SkiWelt locations and then, fully rested, head straight out on to the SkiWelt pistes first thing in the morning. Connections are provided to all SkiWelt resorts from Kufstein or Wörgl train stations. locations. There are also night connection services from Sweden, Denmark and London.
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