Dr. Werner Nohl · landscape architect · honorary professor (Technical University of Munich)

Earthcable for a maximum voltage power line (380kV) due to landscape aethetic reasons


Werner Nohl


The Austrian Power Grid AG plans to errect a maximum voltage powerline of 380 kV east of Salzburg. With this line, an important infrastructure project of the present, the country-wide Austrian 380 kV-net gets completed. It is characterized by a circular arrangement for the electricity supply of the whole country and it will serve as well the trouble-free electricity exchange with neighbor countries. 

Yet local people, environmental groups, and experts of tourism early pointed out that the power line with its massive pylons of 50 – 70 m of hight and with the numerous tied cables consisting of three ropes would be visible from very far. They fear that in the communities of Eugendorf and Koppl,  which are considered as the west entree of the famous Salzkammergut, alpine landscapes of high aesthetic quality will be seriously and permanently disfigured.

To make the discussion more objective, both communities asked the author of this expertise to describe and evaluate the landscape aesthetic and recreational impact of the planned maximum voltage power line in the realm of their communities, and to prompt the question, whether severe and lasting aesthetic and recreational damages in sensitive areas can be avoided by the installation of a cable buried into the ground.



As the report is written in German, please, refer to the German language site (use link below).


Impressum · Kontakt · last modified03/22/2024

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