E.ON Hungária: HUF 74 Billion Network Development

The E.ON Hungária Group is launching a HUF 74 billion network development project, half of which will be financed from its own resources and the other half from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) program, pre-financed by the Hungarian government, the Group announced at a press conference in Budapest on Thursday.

The Group's Deputy CEO for Networks, Ádám Katona, said that by 2026, more than 15,000 small and large network development projects will be implemented in E.ON Hungária's supply area, in Transdanubia and in the greater Pest region, resulting in 726 megawatts of additional capacity to be connected to the electricity grid.

Attila Steiner, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Policy at the Ministry of Energy (EM), stressed that the investment will strengthen Hungary's security of supply and energy sovereignty.

In the past period, solar installations have been connected to the grid much faster than planned. “The Hungarian solar capacity has already exceeded 4,000 megawatts, but for further development, the grid needs to be able to handle the energy generated," according to the Minister of State.

He pointed out that the role of electricity will be of paramount importance in the coming period. Attila Steiner said that it is of great value if energy can be produced and distributed locally. However, the electricity grid is not designed for such a production schedule, but basically for the distribution of energy produced by large power plants. Therefore, the grid needs to be adapted to distribute clean energy produced locally, he said, adding that improving the flexibility of the grid will help connect weather-dependent capacity.