From agricultural waste through pellets to vine-branches, local governments have a wide range of options to satisfy their energy needs by making a transition to smart systems – saving millions annually by doing so. However, it is important what furnaces are fuelled with, where these materials come from and how the system is constructed. The topicality of biomass use and the energy management of local governments are reflected in the fact that almost a hundred participants were interested in the October 20 conference organized by Energiaklub and the Hungarian partners of the COACH BioEnergy project.

The event titled “Biomass Use for Local Governments – Planning, Technology, Capital” held in an impressive vineyard in Szekszárd was divided into a morning and a multi-section afternoon session. The first session consisted of presentations, after lunch participants were free to choose what they would like to learn more about: planning, financing or technology issues. The event was opened by László Kővári MP from Szekszárd, presenting the town’s endeavour in the field of sustainable energy management, and pointing out the problem of energy wasting behaviours and the vast number of untapped possibilities.

József Ángyán Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Development introduced the ministry’s plans in the field of biomass-based community energy production. He named three areas of energy management where the ministry plans to introduce new measures. These areas are: maintaining and recovering large energy providers from foreign ownership, local energy supply and energy efficiency. As the secretary explained, the National Rural Development Strategy deals with environmental and land use management systems that involve developing micro-regional programs aimed at long-term balance. The Strategy does not support individual technologies but complete energy use models that take into account the needs of the production site and “reuse” biomass to nurture the soil. The Strategy does not support growing plants for energy production on highly fertile agricultural lands, food production is still favoured on such lands. The main goal is to use agricultural by-products, agricultural, food industry and communal waste for energy production. In the farm development program renewable energy use is a priority. The secretary’s presentation also covered dilemmas in the area of biofuels, and the necessity of assessing the country’s biomass potential.

József Hegyesi (Szent István University) and Zsolt Kazai (Central Hungarian Innovation Centre) gave a presentation on information and useful tools available on the COACH BioEnergy international project website. The system will be accessible from 1^st January, it provides best practices shown on a map, technological descriptions including lifecycle analyses, and manuals helping investment preparations.

The main messages of the conference include the importance of strategic planning. Planning enables local governments to assess their exact needs and to prevent dependence on market interests, and helps them avoid faulty ad hoc investment projects. Norbert Kohlheb (Szent István University) introduced the practical steps of strategic planning through the example of Szada municipality. In his presentation he emphasised the importance of grassroots initiatives and participative planning, and pointed out the role of local governments in coordinating development projects.

Levente Mürkl (Environmental representative, Tata local government) presented achievements realised in Tata in the field of modernising institutions for energy efficiency. He gave an interesting report on the steps of the modernisation of the local government-owned Tata district heating system. He emphasised the importance of having energy management professionals employed in local governments. Tamás Földesi (notary of Villány) gave an overview on plans for using locally produced viticultural waste for energy production from the perspective of the community. The initiative that could be introduced in the hosting Szekszárd wine-producing area as well is still in its early stages of development, but we will be happy to report on its realisation.

From Energiaklub, first Lilla Csanaky presented the Policy Institute’s recently published analysis that contains measures proposed for using Hungary’s potential of renewable-based heat production to its fullest. The analysis gives information on current use, available potential and the benefits of different implementation methods for each technology, and it introduces the development schedule set in the National Renewable Energy Action Plan. It is difficult to find realised investments on the internet, because most local governments do not publish their success in the area of renewable energy use on their websites. But such projects have great potential for PR, they can improve the country-wide image of both the local population and the municipality. Emese Kovács presented the experiences of the RES Championsleague along these lines, introducing the most successful municipalities in renewable energy use, and plans concerning the continuation of these championships.

In the afternoon the conference went on in three interactive sections.

In the planning section Tibor Győri, head of the model project in Devecser recounted that two 4-hectare energy plantations were established in Devecser, one in an area flooded by red mud from which a 30 cm deep soil layer was removed after the flood, and the other in an area that was swept over by the red mud but no soil was removed. This latter is an unprecedented demonstrative plantation in Hungary where different species, varieties and hybrids can be compared, as well as various growing technologies. He emphasised that each element of the technologies presented can be performed by hand, therefore energy plantations can be utilised well in the planned community service program. In relation to municipal and other subsidies, it was mentioned that energy produced with these technologies costs approximately one-fifth of the production costs of energy produced from natural gas, and that the price of energy plantation produce will not increase in the future, as opposed to the price of natural gas.

In the technology section, discussions revolved around the creation of ancillary industries for biogas production, the effective legal environment, and the available “low-tech” solutions for biomass use among other topics. A biomass plant is practically a “concrete cow” imitating the processes happening within ruminant animals, explained Dániel Dezsény (First Hungarian Biogas Ltd.) jokingly. He emphasised that selective collection of organic waste is essential to provide sufficient biogas raw materials. Local governments could also operate biogas-fuelled furnaces as the capacity of such installations is between 60 kW_th and 20 MW_th. The efficiency of these devices is between 85% and 95%. Another great advantage of this technology is that most traditional gas furnaces can be transformed into biogas furnaces by simply replacing their burner nozzle. Several members of the audience were interested in regulations concerning relocating the residual sludge from biogas production onto agricultural lands. Questions were also raised about legislation on feeding biogas into natural gas networks. It was discussed that Hungary has potential for manufacturing devices for biogas technologies, but it would be necessary for the state to acknowledge it and support it, as the development of ancillary industries would be beneficial for the economy as well.

Márta Somogyvári (head of the Interregional Renewable Energy Cluster Association, IME) told participants that “low-tech” solutions that can be constructed and installed at home have real merits in Hungary because a lot of people live under the poverty line who cannot afford modern technologies. Rocket furnaces, rocket stoves and mass heaters can be very efficient, but their operation has output limitations.

In the section discussing financing options participants received information on financial structures offered by ESCO companies, and Tata municipality’s experiences in the modernisation of its district heating system were presented.