FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Sub-regional Office
for Central and Eastern Europe (SEUR)

FINALISATION OF THE PROJECT TCP/HUN/3003 (A)

A comprehensive summary report of the project "Support to the design and development of innovative forest management schemes" has been finalised and will be published in April 2008. The summary report in Hungarian "Innovatív erdogazdálkodási rendszerek megtervezésének és kialakításának támogatása" will be distributed in the forestry journal "Erdészeti Lapok" with a total number of 3500 copies.
Already at this point in time the project can report about first implementations of recommendations as considerable efforts have been undertaken, particularly by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Hungary to make use of project outcomes.


BIOMASS HEATING AND ELECTRICITY GENERATION IN SZENTENDRE

Following an invitation of the Forestry of Budapest Co. (under Ministry of Defence) FAO Sub-regional office forestry staff and a representative of ELMU (Budapest Electric Works) visited on 26 March 2008 the biomass heating center in Szentendre. The biomass based energy plant was established in 1994 in order to provide heating and hot water to the Kossuth Lajos Military Collage Campus. By the year 2004 the plant was extended to allow for electrical power services. Today it provides 80.000 GJ for heating services and 7800 GWh electricity to the grid per year.

The price for timber waste from the nearby industries was relatively low in the last years and guaranteed a continuous supply. The growing demand for biomass might pose a challenge in the future. Another challenge related to electricity production is the fluctuation of energy supply to the grid. This fluctuation should not exceed 5% while in Szentendre electricity production is linked to the firstly established heating service and thus the produced amount of electricity depends on temperature and weather conditions.