The energy company behind Austria's planned Heiligenkreuz waste to energy plant has called a final halt to the project, which was to have been realised at an industrial park close to the Hungarian border. Following a thorough examination of the framework conditions, Energie Burgenland AG had decided to end the project once and for all, said Michael Gerbavsits, a spokesman for the company's management.
Ultimately, Energie Burgenland believed the facility would not have been economically viable. The concern also sees itself as a renewable energy leader and was looking to further expand its wind power generation activities, which are already the largest in Austria. "This kind of plant is inconsistent with these goals," said Mr Gerbavsits.
The company had planned to build a plant with a capacity of 325,000 tonnes of waste per year and to bring it online in 2011. Following numerous protests in the surrounding Austrian state of Burgenland and from the neighbouring region in Hungary, there was a setback in late April. The he Austrian High Court of Administration revoked the decision on facility's environmental impact assessment on a technicality.