The new solar power plant built in Mezőcsát covers an area of 440 hectares, consists of 466,000 solar panels and can produce 372 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity annually. The investment represents the country’s largest continuous solar park, which will account for 8 per cent of the total domestic solar-generated electricity.
Hungarian Minister of Energy, Csaba Lantos who attended the inauguration ceremony underlined that the proportion of electricity coming from alternative sources must be increased in the country’s energy mix, new production and storage capacities must be built, and infrastructure developments must be implemented to satisfy the growing demand for electricity.
He highlighted that security of supply, the price of energy and the rise of the green economy are closely related to economic competitiveness, adding that solar power plants have a prominent role in this. He cited a recently published analysis, which found that the proportion of solar energy in the electricity mix in Hungary is the sixth largest in the world and the third largest in Europe.
Last year, 1,100 megawatts (MW) of new solar capacity was built in the country, more than in any previous year, and today the total installed capacity is over 4,850 MW, said the Minister, highlighting that this is more than two-thirds of the country’s average electricity consumption.
He added that the 6,000 MW target set for 2030 can be reached within a year or two, and Hungary can even exceed it twice by the original deadline. “At the same time, the integration of weather-dependent renewables into the system requires network flexibility, balancing and storage capacity, which is why the government supports network development investments all over the country,” said Csaba Lantos.
The newly commissioned power plant can produce 372 GWh of electricity annually. This amount of energy is sufficient to satisfy half a year’s energy consumption of Debrecen, with a population of two hundred thousand, or 21 years of Mezőcsát, with a population of approximately 5,700. Commissioning the power plant could reduce the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by up to 130,000 tons per year.
The new power plant is the single largest solar power plant built in Hungary so far, covering an area of 440 hectares with 466,000 solar panels. The total costs of the investment exceed 90 billion Hungarian forints (245 million euros).
