Hungarian champions of using solar energy!

The absolute champion in the category of municipalities with less than five thousand inhabitants was Dötk, with 27 residents. The per capita solar thermal collector surface is 0.6m², thanks to the collectors on the roof of the local Ökorégió Alapítvány (Eco-region Foundation). Apart from the award and the certificate they also received a board which, placed at the boundary of the village, will advertise their achievment. Other winners of the category were also from the Zala county: Nagypáli and Szentgyörgyvölgy.

The winner of the category of municipalities with 5 to 50 thousand residents was Tapolca. Other proud winners here were Budaörs and Törökbálint. The solar hotshot, that is the city (or district) with more than 50 thousand inhabitants, was the 3^rd district of Budapest, coming in first, taking the sunflower that came with the prize. Óbuda acquired the victory with the 1515 m² of solar collectors on top of the largest block of flats in the country, the Village House. All the winners of this category were districts of Budapest: the runner-up was Pesterzsébet (20^th district), while the 13^th district came third. Budapest thus came to give an example of spreading solar energy in Hungary.

The special award winners of the competition were chosen not according to the solar energy use per capita but the commitment or the positive steps of the leadership of the municipalities. The mayor of Nagypáli, with 480 residents, Tibor Köcse created a grand comprehensive plan to develop the village and the neighbouring settlements. An organic part of this is the manifold use of renewable energies. The local Renewable Energies Innovation Eco-centre is a promotion centre, where visitors learn the use of renewables (biomass, biogas, solar, wind) through pilot projects and trainings.

The other special award winner was Orosháza, who had double reason to celebrate, as they came second in the international version of the Suncrown Championship, the RES Champions League also! The award was taken by mayor Béla Németh and energy expert József Varjú. Orosháza earned the special award, amongst other things, by renovating almost all its public institutions, making a point of energy efficiency, and they also installed solar collectors everywhere. A 10MW geothermal plant in the city centre is presently in the phase of planning and grant application,  which would provide electricity to all the public institutions and heating of public institutions and 120  council flats.

A district of Budapest is also found among the special award winners: Újbuda, the „green district” of the capital found that the best way of promotion is giving an example, by renovating the building of the town house for example,  and showcasing it widely. A speciality of Újbuda is the 40kW photovoltaic system on the building of the  council building.

The solar competition was not washed away by the rain of awards, although the settlements received further prizes as well. Special awards were given by Pál Varga, the chair of the Renewable Energy Section of the Hungarian Builiding Engineering Association, and by Károly Mezei, chair of the ETE-TESZ, who awarded the champions with a comprehensive energy audit of a public institution of each. Lilla Timaffy handed out the special prize of the Bautrend magazine, a HVG card each and 10,000 HUF worth of textbooks. Moreover, the winning municipalities can take part in a study tour in Germany next March.

The awards of the Suncrown Championshipwere allocated  by a jury of experts, the members of which were the representatives of the most well known Hungarian municipalities and renewables organisations. Hence the TÖOSZ (National Association of Local Municipalities), the MÖOSZ (National Association of County Councils), the ETE-TESZ (Local Energy Managements Division of the Scientific Energy Management Association), the Renewable Energy Section of the Hungarian Builiding Engineering Association and the German-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce also represented itself in the Championship.

The award giving ceremony took place as part of the RENEXPO, a conference by the Energy Club, aiming at the spreading of solar energy.  The event closed with the announcement of the next round of championship season from 21^st June, 2010 to 21^st March , 2011.

More info: www.napkoronabajnoksag.hu