The situation of application of wind power plant in the world and in Hungary

Abstract

The worldwide wind capacity reached 282’275 Megawatt, out of which 44’609 Megawatt were added in 2012, more than ever before. In Hungary the current wind energy capacity is 330MW, built of modern units, which are designed for the Hungarian wind circumstances. Because of this energy production is very good (740 GWh/year) and the capacity factor (24.1%) is good as well (the 4th best in Europe in 2012). With this we save approx. 220 million m3 /year natural gas whilst we avoid ~400 000 tons of CO2 emission. It is a fact that wind power plants (after the return of investment -9-10 years-) produce cheap energy. From financial side wind power plant utilization is one of the most perspective investments. Our analysis points out that the ambitious plan of Hungary for 2020 (the increasing of renewable energy utilization) is unlikely to be met without wind energy utilization. This article was written with the help of a TÁMOP 4.2.1.B-11/2/KMR-2011- 0003 „INCREASING THE QUALITY OF LEARNING AND RESEARCH” progra