Finance

The major Wien Energie project aims to produce solar power for 4,900 Viennese households.

On Wednesday, Austria's largest photovoltaic system was put into operation in the Donaustadt on a bright, sunny day. The system is to produce 12 gigawatt hours of electricity with immediate effect, enough for around 4,900 Viennese households. The system has a total output of 11.45 megawatts. It has a total of 25,626 modules and is located in an area of 12.5 hectares.

The area is the former gravel dump of the City of Vienna in Donaustadt, which was built by Wien Energie together with MA 48 and MA 49. “For our goal of making Vienna CO2-neutral by 2040, we are relying on the energy transition. That's why we're starting the biggest photovoltaic offensive in history this year. The Schafflerhofstrasse eco-power plant is an important building block for supplying the city with 100 percent electricity from renewable energies in the future, ”says Jürgen Czernohorszky, City Councilor for Climate Change.

Hybrid power plant with wind

Because the system is so large, connecting to the power grid is a challenge. This could be overloaded in such bright sunshine as on Wednesday with production peaks. That is why the plant is operated as a hybrid power plant. It hangs on the same power line as the Wien Energie wind farm Andlersdorf. Because wind and sun are seldom active at the same time, both systems can run in full operation at the same time without overloading the grid.

Should more renewable electricity be produced in spite of this, a buffer electricity storage system is used. It intercepts production peaks and only feeds the solar power produced into the power grid at a later point in time. This storage facility will go into operation by the summer, according to Wien Energie.

Pasture area for sheep

“Last year we commissioned Vienna's largest solar power plant in Unterlaa. This plant is now six times as big. We are advancing climate protection in the city with giant strides and are showing that open space systems can also be optimally designed for the environment and nature. In order to achieve the climate targets, we must jointly use all possibilities for the expansion of renewable energy, ”says Michael Strebl, Managing Director of Wien Energie.

The large area is not only used for solar energy, but also serves as pasture for 150 Jura sheep between April and October. As “natural lawnmowers”, these ensure that the grass does not get too high and, thanks to the photovoltaic modules, are also protected from the onset of the weather. In addition, the system is partly an agricultural photovoltaic system in which both sides produce electricity. These modules are mounted vertically. A tractor can drive between the module rows without any problems and the area can be used for agriculture, e.g. for growing vegetables.

In order to analyze the effects of dual use, Wien Energie is relying on accompanying research together with the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, which will also cultivate the area.

In the thriller about missing art treasures in Upper Austria. Kremsmünster Abbey, the Steyr public prosecutor's office has filed criminal charges against a former Benedictine priest of the Abbey and an antique dealer. The clergyman is said to have stolen art objects worth at least 35,000 euros in 2018, and the dealer has to go to court on charges of stolen goods. The trial should take place in mid-April at the latest, informed court spokesman Christoph Mayer on Wednesday.

Image: APA

Specifically, three years ago the priest was accused of a painting worth 15,000 euros, a shell relief worth 10,000 euros, numerous copper engravings with a total value of 10,000 euros as well as pictures, books and candlesticks (value still open, but less than 5,000 euros) from the Having stolen a pen. According to the public prosecutor's office, an antique dealer took the picture from him, although he should have known that it was stolen goods. He is also accused of supporting the clergy in concealing. According to the criminal complaint, the monk had asked the dealer before a voluntary police inspection in his private depot to take art objects and hide them, said Mayer. In the event of a conviction, the father faces up to three years of imprisonment, the dealer up to two years.

Last year it was discovered that around 50 pieces – mainly paintings and historical weapons – with a total value of around 300,000 euros had disappeared from the monastery's art collection. The Steyr public prosecutor initiated an investigation. It turned out that some of the works of art are back in the meantime, a number of dealers had apparently reversed their business. After it could not be clearly clarified when the objects were lost and who was responsible for them, parts of the preliminary proceedings were discontinued.

The online retailer has updated its recently changed app icon.

The jagged tape on the icon on the left has been replaced

Because some users saw a similarity to Adolf Hitler's stubby beard, Amazon has redesigned its recently changed app icon.

Instead of a jagged adhesive tape over the smiling Amazon arrow, there is now a box-shaped counterpart on the symbol. It is said to make the icon look less like a face and certainly not like Hitler's face.

lmao I completely missed that amazon quietly tweaked its new icon to make it look… less like hitler pic.twitter.com/Jh8UC8Yg3u

– alex hern (@alexhern) March 1, 2021

Before the January change, the app icon was a simple white box. With the redesign, the company wanted to create associations with packages with the brown box and blue adhesive tape.

The new symbol was designed to arouse joy when customers start their purchases on the phone, so that they can already see the packages on their doorstep, the company said.

However, some users also see a face in the recently changed icon, as reported by The Verge. Now they feel reminded of the 12-year-old Aang from the children's film “Avatar – The Lord of the Elements”.

Why does the new Amazon app icon look so familiar? Here's why: pic.twitter.com/OCW21BnKSj

– Avatar: The Last Airbender (@AvatarContexts) March 1, 2021

Customers should install updates for Exchange Server quickly, as vulnerabilities are already being exploited.

Microsoft has closed security holes in its Exchange Server e-mail software, which was allegedly used by Chinese hackers. The software group called on customers on Wednesday night to quickly install the security updates provided.

Microsoft wrote in a blog entry that the hacker group that Microsoft calls “Hafnium” wanted to use the four vulnerabilities to tap information primarily in the USA. The goals were, among other things, research on infectious diseases as well as universities, law firms and companies with defense contracts. The attacks were targeted, and Microsoft had no evidence that private customers were also attacked.

Affected versions

According to Microsoft, the Exchange server versions 2013, 2016 and 2019 are affected. Exchange is used by many companies, authorities and educational institutions as an e-mail platform. In the event of a successful attack via the vulnerabilities, it is possible to access data from the e-mail system. Microsoft has been made aware of the security gaps by IT security researchers.

According to Microsoft, the “Hafnium” group operates from China – but used the infrastructure in the USA for the attacks.

25 kilograms per household – without ice cream and cakes. A good 100,000 tons in total.

Icon image

As is well known, the corona crisis affects all areas of life. This also applies to food. Most of those who fed themselves to school, kindergarten or the office before the pandemic and the accompanying lockdowns had to change that; social dining in the restaurant has long ceased to exist. This was reflected in frozen food sales. In 2020, every household bought an average of 25 kilograms of frozen products, 3 kilograms more than in 2019. According to Iglo, that is more than ever before.

According to this, a total of 100,000 tonnes of frozen pizzas and the like were bought by Austrian households last year (all information excluding ice cream and cakes). Thus, a total turnover in food retail of 537 million euros was achieved. Revenues in this food category in food retailing grew by 19 percent last year, or almost a fifth. The fish and seafood segments recorded particularly high growth rates (+24.5 percent to almost 170 million euros), potatoes (+17.9 percent to a good 61 million euros) and vegetables (+ 17 percent to a good 116 million euros) .

Increase in vegetables, fish and seafood

Above-average sales increases were recorded for products that can be used as components of self-cooked meals. Sales with natural vegetables increased by 20 percent to almost 61 million euros, with natural fish by 26.9 percent to almost 64 million euros and with seafood by 31.8 percent to a good 38 million euros.

Sales of frozen ready meals (+13.2 percent) also grew strongly, but to a lesser extent in comparison. It reached almost 122 million euros.

“In 2020 we cooked more ourselves”

“The development of the entire frozen food category shows that in 2020 Austria's kitchens were increasingly home-cooked”, says Markus Fahrnberger-Schweizer, Managing Director of Iglo Austria. The data for his own company showed this in particular. The advantages of frozen products are the long shelf life of fish and vegetables, easy portioning and the associated avoidance of food waste.

A US court sentenced the chip manufacturer to pay billions for patent infringements. Intel wants to appoint.

The chip company Intel has been sentenced by a jury in Texas to pay nearly 2.2 billion dollars in a patent dispute. The proceedings concerned two patents for technologies from semiconductor production, which, according to Tuesday's ruling, were infringed. VLSI was awarded $ 1.5 billion for one and $ 675 million for the second, according to court records. Intel immediately announced that it would appeal.

At the same time, the jury in the city of Waco did not see any deliberate infringement of the two patents – which could have tripled the amount.

Opportunities in the appointment process

It is not uncommon for US district courts to set high sums for patent infringement. Often, however, the sums are reduced in appeal proceedings – or patents are later declared invalid. Intel had already argued in the process that one of the patents was invalid, but could not convince the jury of it. With a total of around 2.2 billion dollars, it is one of the highest amounts awarded in US patent proceedings.

Several changes of ownership

The patents have undergone several changes of ownership. One was granted to Sigmatel in 2010, which was later bought by the chip company Freescale. Freescale, on the other hand, where the second technology was patented in 2012, went to the semiconductor specialist NXP in 2015. The two patents ended up with VLSI. The company is a semiconductor pioneer founded in the 1970s and has itself undergone several changes of ownership. Most recently, the investment company Fortress, which belongs to the Japanese technology group Softbank, collected various patents under the name.

Patent trolls

Large technology companies, especially in the USA, often see themselves targeted by so-called “patent trolls”, whom they accuse of trying to squeeze out money with purchased property rights. The industry criticizes this as a hurdle for innovation and calls for legal changes. Intel emphasized in a statement to the financial service Bloomberg that the chip company did not agree with the jury's decision and was confident of being able to prevail in the appeal process.

The US Senate has confirmed another member of the cabinet of US President Joe Biden: Gina Raimondo can take up her office as Minister of Commerce. The moderate Democrat was confirmed with 84 to 15 votes, as several US media reported on Tuesday (local time). Raimondo was most recently governor of the smallest US state, Rhode Island. Previously, Biden had suffered an initial setback when his government team was confirmed.

Image: APA (AFP / POOL)

Raimondo had previously worked in the financial sector, among other things. It is expected that it will play an important role in the implementation of central points of the Biden policy, for example in the trade conflict with China and in stimulating the US economy, which has been hit by the corona pandemic, wrote the “New York Times”. Raimondo's nomination had met resistance from some Republicans. Senator Ted Cruz from Texas accused her of being “soft on China”, according to CNN.

Raimondo has been Rhode Island's first female governor since 2015. On Tuesday she resigned from this position and said goodbye on Twitter with the words: “It was a privilege to serve as your (…) governor”. The Yale graduate had, among other things, cut taxes for companies and had clashed with unions over a restructuring of pension programs. Her successor at the head of the northeastern state is, according to media reports, the Democrat Daniel McKee.

Biden had to take a first setback in the confirmation of his government team by the Senate. The president said that he had accepted Neera Tanden's resignation as a candidate for the head of the government's budget office (OMB). Many Republicans and at least one Democratic senator had turned down Tanden's candidacy. Tanden had been very disparaging about Republicans on Twitter.

The Budget Office (OMB) is a lesser-known authority, but it is very important for the functioning of government affairs. With the withdrawal of the candidacy, Biden was spared a foreseeable defeat in the vote in the Senate. So far, Biden has been able to push through his candidates for ministerial posts and government agencies in the Senate with a non-partisan majority. The Democrats alone currently hold exactly 50 of the 100 seats in the Senate. The Chamber of Congress must approve all top government personalities.

Biden said he had “the utmost respect” for Tanden, for her experience and advice. He is looking forward to bringing her to the government's service in a different role. Tanden said in a letter to Biden circulated by the White House that she was honored to be nominated for the post. “Unfortunately it now seems clear that there is no way to be confirmed (by the Senate),” wrote Tanden accordingly. She wanted to prevent sticking to the nomination from becoming a burden for the government.

Managing Director: Rents are in any case covered by Corona liquidity assistance.

From the point of view of the state corona aid agency COFAG, courts must clarify the question of whether companies closed in the corona lockdown have to pay rent or not. “There is then clarity through a court ruling,” said COFAG managing director Bernhard Perner in an interview with the APA.

In any case, the rent of corona liquidity aid will be included. Tenants should only transfer the rent with reservation: for any later claims – their own and COFAG.

Too much help can be reclaimed

“We transfer the rents immediately, give out liquidity to promote the rents,” said Perner. But there is a caveat. And that in case it turns out in retrospect that the rent may have been paid too much. If that is the case, COFAG can claim back the “excess part” for the rent and thus for the liquidity aid.

“That is why we also urge tenants to only pay rents to the landlord under reserve.” In this way, the tenant secures all rights. He doesn't have to push the rent to get help.

“Quick and uncomplicated” help

Because of this “problem of legal certainty”, whether at all or how much less rent has to be paid by officially closed companies, a method was chosen with which the aid could be paid out “quickly”. But later, when legal clarity has arisen through court rulings, it can also be re-directed if too much has been paid out.

“We always wanted to provide quick and uncomplicated help – but optimally protect the rights of taxpayers,” said the other COFAG managing director Marc Schimpel.

Criticism from SPÖ and NEOS

The SPÖ and NEOS had recently criticized the government for not clarifying how to deal with the renting or leasing of closed companies. SPÖ economics spokesman Christoph Matznetter referred to two first instance judgments according to which tenants do not have to pay, but there is still no OGH judgment. NEOS counterpart Josef Schellhorn reminded that the NEOS would have wished for loss compensation.

The current state of affairs was also criticized by the Landtmann cafetier Berndt Querfeldt and other restaurateurs. Among other things, they located a dilemma between rent payments and corona aid, which COFAG does not believe.

The money is to be used to accelerate the approval of the electric VoloCity.

The German air taxi start-up Volocopter has collected a further 200 million euros from investors. The company announced on Wednesday that the new money will be used to accelerate the approval of the VoloCity, the electric air taxi for cities. “Thanks to our partnerships, we can fall back on the necessary expertise to open the first routes in the next few years,” said company boss Florian Reuter.

Information on the company evaluation was not given. The air taxi developer Lilium from Munich is now valued at more than one billion dollars (around 830 million euros).

Existing investors involved

So far, Volocopter has been financed with a total of 122 million euros. All existing investors, including the logistics subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, Intel, Daimler and Geely, took part in the new financing round. New on board are Continental AG, the asset manager BlackRock, Avala Capital, Atlantia, NTT and Tokyo Century.

“Our shareholder structure remains balanced with a worldwide mix of strategic and financial investors and thus a reflection of our global ambitions,” said CFO Rene Griemens.

First air taxi routes

Like its German competitor Lilium, Volocopter is developing electrically powered air taxis with which passengers can avoid traffic jams and reach their destination quickly. The ten-year-old company is considered a pioneer and plans to operate the first commercial air taxi routes within the next two years. A logistics drone is also being developed.

Companies around the world are now in a costly race for the first commercial air taxi offer. In addition to Volocopter, Joby and Lilium, well-known names such as Airbus and Volkswagen compete with each other. Meanwhile, the European aviation safety authority EASA also considers the use of drones and air taxis to be realistic by the middle of the decade.

According to analysts, the potential is huge

The analysts at Morgan Stanley rate the potential as huge. According to this, the market for electronic air taxis, which deliver goods and transport passengers, could be worth more than $ 1.5 trillion by 2040.

The US competitor has safety concerns about the kerosene tank in the fuselage of the long-haul Airbus A321XLR.

The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has reported its European rival Airbus to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The fuel tank, which is supposed to increase the range of the long-haul Airbus A321XLR, holds “many potential dangers,” said Boeing on Tuesday. The criticism is directed against the main marketing argument of the A321XLR, which is said to fly further with the kerosene tank in the fuselage than any other aircraft with only one central aisle.

In most aircraft, most of the fuel is carried in the wings. Boeing therefore cited risks if a jet should go off the runway or the landing gear should fail on landing.

Airbus confident

Airbus was confident of solving the problem. “Public consultations are part of an aircraft development program,” said an Airbus spokesman. All issues raised would be tackled jointly with the regulators.

The Airbus concept already caught the attention of EASA: In January, the aviation authority announced that it would impose special conditions to ensure the safety of passengers. “An integral fuselage tank exposed to an external fire cannot give passengers enough time to safely exit the aircraft without adequate protection,” it said.