On Tuesday, Péter Kaderják, State Secretary for Energy and Climate Policy, Ministry for Innovation and Technology (ITM) presented the energy and climate strategy decisions of the Government in his speech delivered at the Electricity Security Workshop of the International Energy Agency of Paris.

The key topic of the high-level workshop attended by experts and government representatives was the restructuring of the electricity sector due to climate change and technological change. The fundamental aim is to reduce the emission of harmful substances considering that currently the energy sector is responsible for more than eighty percent of the gases causing climate change. The speakers of the workshop were trying to find an answer to questions as to what supply security risks may arise from such restructuring, in part, regarding the reliability of the weather-dependent renewable capacities (solar and wind energy) and to the ways of protection against cyber-attacks.

In a phone conversation with MTI (Hungarian Press Agency) the State Secretary said that at the workshop, he presented the key elements of the Hungarian energy and climate strategy concepts and described future plans for the restructuring of the electricity sector and the related supply security issues. Of these, he pointed out that Hungary will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by forty percent until 2030 compared to 1990 and, as part of this, it will increase the share of renewable energies from the current 13 to 21 percent.

"The flagship project of this policy is the further cleaning of our electricity sector”, the State Secretary pointed out. He reminded that currently sixty percent of the Hungarian electricity productions is carbon-free with fifty percent generated by the nuclear powerplant and ten percent coming from renewable energies. We will try to increase the rate of carbon emission-free electricity production to ninety percent by 2030, he added.

As described by Péter Kaderják, the following factors play a decisive role in the restructuring: the first is the renewal of nuclear capacities, i.e. continuing the use of nuclear energy through the Paks II project. The second is to replace the lignite-based electricity production in Mátra mountains primarily by gas and renewable energy production. And the third is to significantly increase the electricity production capacities from renewable energies, primarily from the use of solar energy reserves.

The State Secretary indicated that as far as the replacement of lignite is concerned, gas-based electricity production not being fully renewable, yet more beneficial for the environment may still play a role on the medium term, however Hungary does not count with it on the long run.

In addition, he underlined the funding scheme based on tendering and calls for proposals set up at the end of last year that allows for the highest possible solar energy production to be brough to the market at the lowest level of funding possible. The winning projects to be selected from among more than 160 project proposals will be able to produce at a price that is one third less than the power plants built earlier and ran in the regulated price scheme, the State Secretary said.

(MTI)