The largest state in Austria now generates 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources of energy, its governor said Thursday.
Lower Austria, which includes the country's capital Vienna, has a population of 1.6 million. That's roughly the same or greater than the population of 12 U.S. states and all but 4 American cities.
Erwin Proell, the state's governor, said that 63% of Lower Austria's electricity now comes from hydroelectric power. Another 26% is from wind energy, nine percent from biomass and two percent from solar.
"Since 2002 we have invested 2.8 billion euros ($3.0 billion) in eco-electricity, from solar parks to renewing (hydroelectric) stations on the Danube," Proell told reporters according to a report by Agence France-Presse. "Proell said the expansion of renewables has created 38,000 green jobs in the state, with the aim of generating 50,000 jobs in the renewables sector by 2030."
"As a whole, Austria produces around 70% of its electricity via renewables, the highest share in the EU," Quartz noted. "It’s blessed by a mountainous geography that makes hydropower—usually produced by damming rivers at altitude and then letting the water flow downhill—possible."
