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THE PROJECT
The managers of the project aimed at proving that it is possible to use renewable energy in the village of Vép and that this kind of locally available energy can also be used for a community purpose. This is why the project managing company was established which was able to launch the investment using resources from tenders. Electricity generated in the wind farm is fed into the public utility electricity network. The owners have taken on a commitment saying that they would settle the complete bill for public lighting for the village of Vép from the income derived from the sale of the generated electricity. The trial operation of the wind turbine started in mid-June 2005, and the technical acceptance was scheduled for 4th September 2005. Investment milestones:
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Type of technology: Enercon E-40 wind power station
The wind farm operates with a non-stop monitoring system which signals problems in the German headquarters of Enercon, at the Austrian maintenance suppliers as well as the computer of the operator. The headquarters of E-On in Győr regularly monitors the surroundings of the wind farm, and on the site this task is also undertaken by a wind miller and the police and civil guards. The company has used tender resources, loans and private capital in order to finance this investment. The calculated payback period of the project is 6 years thanks to the generous PHARE CBC contribution. The support environment in Hungary was favourable when the project was launched. The compulsory feed-in tariffs ensured a substantially secure environment for the investors and also for the calculation of the payback period. Information prior to realization: residential forums, municipality public hearings, survey concerning the acceptability of wind energy, newspaper articles, Internet articles, radio and television reports and interviews (in national and local press), information brochures in every household of the village on designs and construction. Information during realization: 2 conferences, expert forums, visitors at the wind farm (approx. 8 000 visitors in one year), website www.szel.hu, e-mail campaign, 2 billboards, newspaper and Internet articles, radio and television reports and interviews, advertisements in local newspapers and teletext, information brochures in every household of the village on current situation and future plans, another survey concerning the acceptability of wind energy in the village. Information subsequent to realization: “wind exhibition” beside the wind farm, website, newspaper articles, wind speed measured at the wind farm tower included in weather bulletins on local radio, residents can follow the production data of the wind farm in five displays. According to the findings of the surveys, the acceptance and support of wind energy have grown in the village. As the fame of the village grew, visitors came to the wind farm from further away. The success of the project led to the launch of other wind farm projects in the region. One part-time job was created. The expansion of the wind farm will result in the creation of 3-5 additional jobs. The wind turbine in Vép replaces an annual amount of 600 tonnes of greenhouse gases.
The professional authorizing procedure of the wind farm (Hungarian Energy Office) was smooth and easy back in 2003- 2004. However, since November 2005 a new regulation made this procedure much more difficult. The area of Vép is considered as heavily damaged from an environmental aspect; therefore, there were no environmental concerns when the authorizing procedure used to be more simple. Both the offices concerned and regional electricity suppliers used to be more helpful. The wind farm built so far is the first phase of this investment. The second phase would include the construction of an additional three wind power stations with a total installed capacity of 4.8 MW. The required environmental permits have all been granted, while construction permits are not all available. What is more, network connection agreement and the MEH (Hungarian Energy Office) permit are still missing. The third phase of the investment would include the construction of 167 wind power stations with a total capacity of 32 MW and the issuing of connected environmental permits is already in progress. The design phase and further permission-granting would be the next step. The realization of these planned investment phases would have considerable additional influence on the life of the village of Vép since, based on the agreement signed with the Municipality, the company would spend the majority of its income on community purposes, thus the company would support developments related to local education as well as tourism and infrastructure.
Szélerő Vép Kht.
Contact: Rudolf Piller - managing director - +36 30 853 1719 - piller@szel.hu | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Examples to Follow - Successful and Sustainable Energy Investments in the Central-Eastern and South-Eastern European Region - Energia Klub 2008 |
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TECHNOLOGY