How will Hungary's subsidy scheme affect battery energy storage?

The Hungary panel discussion at the event. Image: Solar Media. Hungary’s subsidy scheme for energy storage will drive huge growth in battery energy storage system (BESS) deployments over the next few years.

Is Hungary a good market for energy storage subsidies?

Moderator Nikita Chandrashekar, director at advisory Augusta & Co, said the scheme made Hungary an attractive market: “It is probably one of the most advanced subsidies schemes to bring energy storage forward. So from a revenue perspective, perhaps, unlike some other markets, the business case in Hungary seems pretty well developed.”

How much solar power does Hungary have?

State secretary for energy transition of the Energy Ministry Viktor Horvath noted that Hungary had built more than 8,000MW of solar capacity in the past 5-6 years and one-quarter of the electricity generated in the country came from renewable sources last year.

How much money will the battery energy storage project receive?

The battery energy storage project will receive a HUF 2.7bn grant from the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and HUF 5.6bn in investment incentive funds from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Peter Archibald Schubert, managing director of Mol Exploration and Production Hungary said.

Who makes battery storage units?

Huawei Technologies is manufacturing the battery storage units and the general contractor for the project is Forest-Vill. The transformer was made by Ganz. The MET Group had consolidated revenue of EUR 17.9bn last year. Hungarian oil and gas company MOL has started the construction of a 20 MW / 40 MWh energy storage in Algyő (South Hungary).

How much power does Hungary have?

Hungary has 40MWh of grid-scale BESS online today but that will jump 3,400% to around 1,300MWh over the next few years thanks to opex and capex support from the government, said Pálma Szolnoki, senior research associate at trade body the Hungarian Battery Alliance.