Support schemes
There are several support schemes for the development of renewable energy sources. The 2001 Law on Electricity Production, Transport and Supply forced electricity providers to buy electricity produced from renewables by a facility with an installed capacity of more than 100 kW and connected to the grid (KAT system), which was replace by the METAR scheme a on 1 January 2017.
Up to 50 kVA, residential renewable installations are eligible for net metering if the power plant connects to the low-voltage grid. The surplus fed into the grid is remunerated by the electricity supplier with the retail electricity price.
Feed-in tariffs
The Electricity act 2007 created legal basis for creation of feed-in tariff for renewable electricity. Decree No. 389/2007 on the obligatory dispatch and purchase of electricity generated from waste or from renewable energy sources introduced feed-in tariff in Hungary. The provisions of the Decree entered into force with the beginning of 2008. The support programme was last amended in 2014.
Feed-in tariff programme is the main support policy for deployment of renewables in Hungary.
Eligible technologies are solar PV, geothermal energy, biogas, hydropower, biomass and wind. However, onshore wind installations receive feed-in tariff level through calls of application.
The feed-in tariff rates are similar for all renewable plants up to 500 kW (except wind) and
differ according to the time period in 2018. :
- €4.22c/kWh (“off-peak” hours)
- €10.3c/kWh (“valley” hours and solar)
- €11.6c/kWh (“on-peak” hours)
Technology-specific caps have been introduced.
Feed-in tariffs in Hungary are revised every year on 1st of January.
Support schemes
Hungary's support scheme was re-designed in 2016 and came newly into force begin 2017. There are three sub-systems that depend mainly on the plant's capacity, these are feed-in tariffs, a "green premium "without tendering and a "green premium" granted through tendering procedures. A "brown premium" may be granted for solid biomass and biogas plants.
The key feature of the new support scheme is that the producers of renewable energy receive the aid as a paid premium over the market reference price (e.g. the average price of the regulated market). The customers of this kind of energy will be those consumers of electricity who are not entitled to universal services (mainly business enterprises). The new system ensures that the producers will not be interested in the sale of the electricity at negative electricity market prices.
Last update: 07 2023