With renewable energy for settlement autonomy2011. december 12.
The local self-government of Újszilvás, which identified energy autonomy based on renewable energy sources as one of the main pillars when drawing up the long-term strategy of the settlement, provides a model example for every local community, János Bencsik, State Secretary for Energy Affairs and Climate Policy emphasised on 23 November 2011, on the occasion of the ceremonious hand-over of the Újszilvás solar power plant.
Thanks to the solar power plant based on renewable energy and to the geothermal project handed over earlier, this village in Pest county may set out on the path of self-sustainment. Újszilvás has realised on a small scale the national-level objective of the National Energy Strategy, namely the replacement of energy dependency by autonomy, the State Secretary stressed.
In praise of the construction of the biggest Hungarian sun-tracking photovoltaic power-generating system of 0.4 MW, János Bencsik János explained that, under the New Széchenyi Plan, the Government gave priority treatment to the areas provided an unjustifiably low amount of support during the previous government cycle.
Following the change of government, 169 photovoltaic projects were granted support of a total value of HUF 7.4 billion. The projects to be launched under the New Széchenyi Plan will build in solar panels of 12,8 MW altogether, implying the saving of 13 200 tonnes of carbon-dioxide and the generation of more than 15 GWh electricity annually. With the completion of the solar panel projects awarded support, the in-built solar panel capacity of 0,9 MW in 2010 will undergo more than 14-fold increase.
The total cost of the implementation of the Újszilvás photovoltaic project is almost HUF 620 million, of which the Hungarian state and the European Union provided HUF 432 million as non-repayable subsidy. The annual electricity output of the 1 632 solar panels mounted on 68 rotating systems exceeds the quantity of 630 000 kWh. The investment cuts the emission of gases with greenhouse effect by 450 tonnes per year.
The primary endeavour of the Government is to use the available EU and domestic funds more purposefully and more efficiently than in the previous government cycles. In addition to their positive energy efficiency and savings results, developments in the area of green economy promote more general economic policy strivings, the most important one being in all probability that of job creation, the State Secretary ended his speech.