Hungary aims to invest up to 16 billion euros by 2030 to boost electricity production and storage capacity and curb reliance on gas imports, supplied mostly by Russia, Technology and Industry Minister Laszlo Palkovics said.
Under a deal signed last year, before the start of the war in neighbouring Ukraine, Hungary receives 3.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year via Bulgaria and Serbia under a long-term deal with Russia and a further 1 bcm via a pipeline from Austria. The agreement with Gazprom is for 15 years.
In July, nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government scrapped a years-long cap on utility prices for higher-usage households, which Palkovics said would likely contribute to a decline in retail gas consumption.
More action was needed, however, as part of a drive to cut the share of gas in Hungary's final energy consumption to 26 per cent by the end of this decade from 35 per cent last year, with the bulk of that improvement coming from a large-scale electrification drive.
"The current situation is definitely motivating for several things," Palkovics told a conference organised by financial news website portfolio.hu
He said installed solar power capacity would reach 8 GW by 2024, with additional demand coming from the industrial sector by 2030 requiring further investment into an overhaul of the power grid and energy storage capacities.
"The development of the power grid and storage capacities near solar power plants are not at the level where they should be," the minister said, adding that the government would outline more detailed plans in October.
He also said a planned extension project could prolong the lifetime of existing blocs at Hungary's Paks nuclear power plant by two decades.-Reuters