Kornélia Radics

Present state of wind energy utilisation in Hungary: policy, wind climate, and modelling studies

Earlier renewable energy studies suggested that Hungary does not have considerable extractable wind power due to the low mean annual wind speed. Recent technological developments with the remarkable increase of tower height and rotor diameter of wind power stations made it possible to reevaluate wind energy consumption in continental regions such as the Carpathian Basin. This paper presents the policy changes of the Hungarian government concerning the joining of the country to the European Union planned in 2004. In order to support governmental efforts on renewable energy consumption a research project started on mapping potential wind resources of the country. It was essential to measure and analyse the flows in the lower 100-150 m of the boundary layer through vertical profile estimations. Then, serving the optimal siting the WAsP model has been applied to extrapolate the measured data at different regions of Hungary.

Estimation of climate effects of land use changes with simple wind models

Abstract Land has an important role in the climate system. Its spatial and temporal variability exceeds the ocean’s. Roughness properties and participation of land in the moisture exchange process underline its importance. Because of increasing land degradation and land use change in the last century a better understanding of these processes is required. For this purpose several new modelling approaches have been developed recently. Population of high and middle latitudes has to face additional problems: frozen soil, snowpack and ice cover of the surface change its characteristic features. The latest IPCC assessment report (2001) also emphasises the importance of the above mentioned processes. In the frame of a research project on renewable energy sources which is specially focused on potential usage of wind energy, a linear spectral wind model has been applied and tested for different types of terrain conditions. In this paper effects of agricultural land use variations on wind fields are discussed. Comparative case studies were carried out to analyse the applicability of the WAsP model on different terrain conditions.