Hungarian government overwhelmed with bids for wind energy licenses
HUNGARY: The Hungarian Energy Office has received 68 bids to establish 1.1GW of wind power capacity in the country, nearly three times the 410MW for which licenses will be granted later this year.
Iberdrola's 50 MW Kisigmand wind farm, made up of 2 MW Gamesa turbines. Iberdrola is currently constructing 74 MW in Hungary and is among the investors bidding in the 410 MW tender
The tender represents the first wind capacity open for development in the country since 330 MW in licenses were awarded in a 2006 tender process. With licenses issued in the current tender, Hungary should see the new limit on installed capacity rise to 740 MW.
The preliminary bids, laying out the details of the planned projects, will now be evaluated by a committee before proceeding. A second stage of bidding involving financial issues such as the tariff energy produced from these projects will receive. Final winners are expected to be announced this summer.
Hungary’s installed wind capacity currently stands at 201 MW and should move close to the 330 MW capacity limit which was established with the 2006 tender.
The current tender is divided into two lots. Bidders submitted a total of 818.5MW in proposed projects for 280MW of wind energy capacity to be licensed off in the operating territory of electricity distributors Edasz and Emasz. Both companies are active in the northern part of the country where most of Hungary’s existing wind farms are sited.
A total of 298.9MW in projects were presented for the remaining 130MW for which licenses will be issued in the operating territory in southern Hungary of distributors Demasz, Elmu and Titasz.
