EVN Abfallverwertung NÖ started construction of the thermal waste utilisation plant at Zwentendorf/Dürnrohr in July 2001, exactly on schedule. Construction similarly progressed exactly as scheduled and has since been completed.

A short overview of the construction phase:

The foundations were completed in the autumn of 2001, so that the structural steel work could be begun in mid December 2001. Shortly after, the boiler house reached its final height of 45 metres. Excavation works for the bunker (which, at a capacity of 40,000 cubic metres, is the largest bunker of any incinerator in Europe ) were finished in the spring of 2002, the bunker walls and floor were put in place by the summer of 2002, and in September 2002 the roof was built. At the same time, the major components for the flue gas cleaning unit were delivered and installed. It was an impressive sight to see the scrubbers for the wet stage, the dust collectors and the flue gas nitrogen removal system delivered to the site in May 2002. Most of the waste water treatment tanks were installed in the summer of 2002. A landmark seen from afar are the two smokestacks, which reach up 100 metres into the sky.

The tallest structures of the plant are the two steel smokestacks towering at a height of 100 metres above the plant, and the stairwells of more than 48 metres in height. Altogether, some 50,000 tons of reinforced steel and steel girders weighing some 3,000 tons went into the plant. The site employed 200 to 300 workers per day.

Construction took altogether 18 months, and plant start-up was performed from January to October 2003, followed by the trial operation in the autumn of 2003, so that the capacities required for thermal garbage treatment were available as of 1 January 2004, exactly on schedule for the entry into force of the landfill ordinance and the amendment to the water law.

Since this date, the plant has been employing some 50 staff, but its employment effect is reaching further afield: personnel required for transport, logistics, maintenance and repair adds up to another 115-130 staff.