In recent years, countries around the world have been setting ambitious environmental goals. For some of them, these goals represent a challenge that they do not easily overcome, while others face failure.
Hungary, however, stands out as an example of a country that takes a serious approach to ecology, placing the development of solar energy, energy storage and electric vehicles among its key priorities. After the success in 2023, Hungary continues intensive efforts to improve ecology in 2024. Hungary exceeded its initial targets from the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECPs), which envisaged reaching 6.5 GW of solar energy capacity by 2030. This goal was already achieved in 2024, which is why the plan was revised and the goal was increased to 12 GW. Over the past year, Hungary’s solar capacity increased by 1,632 MW, a record increase.
Investments in renewable energy sources
In early 2024, they upgraded the Napenergia Plusz program, offering subsidies of five million forints (about 13,000 euros) for the installation of solar panels and energy storage systems. The program provides a budget of 75 billion forints (about 197 million euros) which should help households reduce electricity costs and become more energy independent. In the first month of the year, more than 400 contractors were registered, and more than 21,500 households applied for subsidies. Due to the great interest, the budget of the program was increased by 30 billion forints (about 79 million euros), enabling subsidies for over 25,000 households.
As stated on the official website of the Ministry of Energy of Hungary, according to the data of the transmission system operator MAVIR, a total of 6,712 MW of solar power plant capacity has been installed in this country by July 2024. Of that total capacity, the largest part of 3,678 MW was made up of industrial facilities, which means that close to 90 percent of systems with a power greater than 50 kW were in operation during the period of the highest demand for energy. In addition, MAVIR is the same as if this growth trend continues, solar energy capacity in Hungary could increase by more than 1 GW during 2024, which would be in line with the growth recorded during the previous two years. When it comes to households, there are about 270,000 solar systems in operation, three quarters of which are rooftop installations. This is a thirty-fold increase in the last ten years.
IN FOCUS:
Due to the significant increase in solar capacity and the increasing use of other renewable energy sources, the Government of Hungary has launched some other important programs to support the development of this sector. It is about supporting the improvement of infrastructure for energy storage, because in this way stable supply and integration of renewable sources into the power system is ensured. The first program opened in January 2024 with a budget of HUF 62 billion (EUR 163 million). The goal of the program was to help companies build energy storage capacities in the industrial sector, twenty times larger than the current 20 MW, by the summer of 2026. As stated on the website of the Ministry of Energy, the current capacities have the possibility to be increased fifty times by 2030.
Zofia Konc, State Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, stated in June that the year 2024 is crucial for the modernization of the Hungarian power grid. The government supported these investments with 160 billion forints (about 421 million euros), including the construction of new and expansion of existing substations and transmission lines. These measures are important to improve the security of supply to Budapest and Eastern Hungary.
Nuclear energy – key to the future
Hungary also emphasizes the importance of nuclear energy, the Paks 1 and Paks 2 power plants will produce half of the required energy by the 2030s. With the full operation of the total capacity of solar and nuclear energy, the country can fully supply itself with technologies without the emission of carbon dioxide. However, as the weather conditions are unstable, which is why solar energy does not always have its full capacity, nuclear energy is very important for Hungary. This was confirmed by State Secretary Konc, when she stated that it is important to extend the working life of Paks 1 and the construction of Paks 2.
Another source of energy that Hungary has focused on is geothermal energy. For years, this country has been among the top five in Europe in terms of direct use of geothermal energy, and a significant increase in use by 2030 is planned. It is planned that the current use of about 6.4 petajoules will increase to 12-13 petajoules, which would increase the share of geothermal energy in the production of heat energy from 6.5 percent to 25-30 percent. The state will provide 165 billion forints (about 434 million euros) for geothermal investments, including 34 billion (about 89 million euros) for the reduction of geological and financial risks.
Prepared by: Katarina Vuinac
Source: energetskiportal.rs
