With the signing of the heat supply contract with EVN, a pioneering energy project is getting underway. From the end of 2027, renewable heat from the Egger particleboard plant will be fed into the district heating network of St. Pölten.
Together with the energy supplier EVN and the city of St. Pölten, the wood-based material manufacturer is implementing a project to modernize the energy supply at its plant in Unterradlberg, Austria. Egger is investing specifically in its local energy infrastructure for this purpose. The positive effects extend beyond the plant boundaries: in the future, the plant will be integrated into the city’s district heating supply.
“Over the past few years, we have invested massively in renewable energy supply at our plant in several stages,” said Martin Wurzl, Egger plant director technical/production. “In two biomass power plants, we generate renewable electricity and heat from biogenic fuels for our own processes. We produce at our plant in normal operation without natural gas and are already supplying heat to the neighbouring companies Egger Getränke and Sunpor Kunststoff GmbH. We are pleased that we can now take the next step as part of a comprehensively conceived regional energy concept and will soon be able to supply district heating to the city of St. Pölten.”
On June 18, 2026, the project partners signed the heat supply contract, officially setting the starting point for this pioneering project. The first heat delivery is planned for the end of 2027.
“Since 2009, we have been supplying the state capital St. Pölten via our 30 km transport pipeline from Dürnrohr with sustainable waste heat from the waste treatment plant,” said EVN executive board spokesman Stefan Szyszkowitz. “This year, our biomass heating power plant in St. Pölten also went into operation. With the heat partnership now finalized for feeding in industrial heat, we are setting another important building block for an efficient, secure and environmentally friendly district heating supply for the state capital.”
Technical innovations
At the heart of the investment plan is a new steam turbine that will be installed at the Egger plant in Unterradlberg. It will generate around 4.77 megawatts (MW) of electricity for the plant from the steam from biomass boiler 1. This will raise the proportion of electricity generated on site to around 87%. The resulting exhaust steam will then be used for district heating. In addition, a new heat pump will feed heat into the district heating network using the turbine exhaust steam from the existing turbine 2 from biomass boiler 2.
The fuels used will be for example wood dust from the company’s own production, wood waste and biogenic production residues that can no longer be used as materials. In total, around 10 MW of hot water are to be delivered into the district heating pipeline during the winter months, which corresponds to around 10% of the heat demand of district heating customers in St. Pölten.
It is particularly noteworthy that this additional benefit is achieved without a higher fuel input, meaning the overall efficiency of the energy facilities can be significantly increased. A key advantage is that in this way, the use of natural gas in district heating network operations can be further reduced and replaced by heat from renewable energy.
Strong partnership for the region
A project of this size can only succeed with good and strategic partners. A viable energy concept was developed in close cooperation with EVN and the city of St. Pölten. The district heating pipeline runs close to the Egger plant, and a transfer point has already been planned.
EVN is taking over the connection to the existing network and is building the necessary infrastructure from the transfer point at the power plant to the existing district heating pipeline. This integrates the heat generated efficiently into the city’s supply system. The project schedule provides for Egger’s first heat delivery in the fourth quarter of 2027.
Positioning within Egger’s climate strategy
Egger pursues a clearly defined climate strategy with the goal of reducing its climate-impacting greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. The company is committed to the Net Zero target by 2050. To achieve this, comprehensive measures are being implemented, with a focus on decarbonizing the energy supply of its own plants. The development of site-specific energy projects fits into this long-term approach.
The project in Unterradlberg combines numerous positive aspects: more self-generated electricity from renewable sources at the Egger plant, no additional fuel requirements, more efficient use of existing energy and connection to the district heating network of the city of St. Pölten. In this way, it makes an important contribution to the future-proof energy supply of the region.
