Hungary has officially inaugurated the country's largest contiguous solar power plant with 250 MW installed capacity in the Municipality of Mezőcsát, delivered for an investment of HUF 90 billion ($262 million) with capacity to generate 372 GWh clean energy annually, reported local media.
The project is aimed at contributing to bringing down Hungary's energy imports since it currently imports 76% of its energy. It will also help bring down carbon emissions, reduce its reliance on natural gas and diversify the country's power generation sources to renewable energy sources.
According to the country's Secretary of State for International Communication Zoltan Kovacs who posted on his Twitter account that Hungary's domestic industrial solar PV capacity now exceeds 3 GW, having brought online more than 840 MW in 5M/2023.
He also shared that the country has installed well over 200,000 small household-sized solar power plants.
Hungary has a target to achieve low-carbon electricity mix of 90% by 2030 with new nuclear and renewable energy capacity. It includes 6.5 GW PV capacity to be installed by 2030 and 12 GW by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Earlier this year in February 2023, European Commission said it will take Hungary, Croatia and Portugal to the EU Court of Justice for not promoting renewable energy in their countries (see EC Sues Renewables Laggards).