„Identification and promotion of renewable energy potential in Alba” is a project of international cooperation developed between Alba County Council and the German Technical Cooperation GTZ, held in October 2008 – October 2010.
Project activities have been the identification of potential sites for wind power as well as making significant wind measurements for the county of Alba. Results are published in the form of a detailed wind maps showing the existing wind energy potential in Alba county.
Local coordination and implementation of project activities have been performed by Alba County Council and GTZ, in collaboration with Alba Local Energy Agency Alba, The University „1 Decembrie 1918” of Alba Iulia and IWC, a joint venture between North Windkraft (WKN) and Siemens based in Husum which formed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) with GTZ for the project.
To assess wind potential of the Alba County, a tower with a height of 85 m was mounted near Alba Iulia, equipped with modern measurement tools to assess air flow, analyzing records obtained during the period 11.08.2009 – 30.6. 2010. As of 05/26/2010 additional measurements were made from a telecommunications tower located 25 km from the first tower. Measurements confirm that the wind speed increases with increasing height on the one hand and that the measurement points are very much influenced by the position of the valley on the other hand.
Western Carpathians and Southern areas of the county shield large areas of the county, and valleys produce the drainage effect of the wind. In Alba County, and in particular, in the north-east-south-west valley , the north-east wind currents prevail in winter and in the middle of the year when it is summer, during measurements, the prevailing currents are from south-west.
Wind speed measured in about eight months with the 4.24 m tower was of 85 m/s. As a result, production of wind energy in large parks in this location is not profitable at present, with current market technology. In the rest of the area under study, predicted average speeds are between 5.0 and 6.0 m / s as annual average at a height of 100 mA in the best exposed positions in the area.
10 packages have been compared to the annual records of weather stations in Sibiu, Deva and Cluj-Napoca, and measurements taken over three years Blaj station, the result showing that the records received from weather station in Sibiu was the closest records obtained in the measuring points.
A map of the proposed wind farm is very important, even decisive in identifying areas which, in turn, can be economically profitable to produce wind energy. However, it is essential to further measure wind in the area, for a minimum period of one year to determine the exact data of subsequent investment.
Joint project with the German results show that Alba County has substantial wind potential in limited areas.
