power lines shaped like animal sculptures provide energy in Austria

Animal sculptures act as electrical cables in Austria

Power cables concept in shape animal sculptures can supply energy to all nine Austrian states. These power structures, called Austrian Power Giants, are modeled after the animal that represents the state. Take the stork, a long-necked little bird, which represents Burgenland for the annual stork migration, with Rust considered a stork city. Then there is the stag, the animal symbol for the forested foothills of the Alps in Lower Austria. The nine federal states where planning teams hope to install the power lines shaped like animal sculptures include Burgenland, Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Vienna.

all images courtesy of Austrian Power Grid

Stork and Deer energy lines are designed for pretests

THE plan groups – a collaboration between companies Austrian Power Grid, design partners GP and BauCon – say the stork and deer designs have already been developed and pre-tested for structural stability and high-voltage performance in order to test whether it is possible to produce power lines shaped like animal structures. They expect that these nature-inspired designs can scale “public acceptance of network extension projects in their respective areas” and become symbols of fauna-themed infrastructure. They add that traditional power line designs do not have public acceptance in all areas of the country, so by making animal sculptures as power lines, they hope their acceptance will be more positive.

For them, it’s a way to towering infrastructure “Harmony with nature” and “to strengthen the economic and tourism position in the regions and ultimately lead to increased acceptance of network expansion projects by the general public”. So far, only two of these Austrian Mighty Giants, the stork and the deer, have been designed for pre-tests to see if they can be built and if their structural and electrical engineering is feasible. The miniature models of the Austrian Power Giants are to be put on public display at the Red Dot Museum in Singapore until October 2026 after receiving the 2025 Red Dot Award for Design Concept in Electrification and Decarbonisation.

view of the stork sculpture