APG completes removal of old Salzburg power line towers

Austria’s 380-kilovolt Salzburg power line project is now complete, including the removal of the old lines and towers, operator Austrian Power Grid (APG) said, according to ORF. The project prompted years of debate and protests.

APG removed nearly 680 old towers and their associated lines along almost 200 kilometres. The final towers in the high-alpine Hagengebirge were flown out by helicopter in early September, and workers removed their foundations in the weeks that followed. The old towers belonged to 220- and 110-kilovolt lines.

They have been replaced by a single 380-kilovolt line with nearly 450 towers. The new towers are taller and take up more space, but APG says the project has reduced the overall number of lines and towers.

The new line entered full operation in April 2025 after more than six years of approvals and five years of construction. The project cost about one billion euros and included new substations in Pongau, in St. Johann im Pongau, and Wagenham, in Pischelsdorf am Engelbach in Upper Austria. Existing substations in Salzburg, Kaprun, Tauern and St. Peter were also expanded or rebuilt.

APG says the line is intended to carry electricity surpluses from wind and solar power plants in eastern Austria to pumped-storage power stations in the west. Opponents had objected to the overhead line over concerns including land expropriations, possible effects on nature and the size of the towers, and called for an underground cable instead.