Application of Renewable Energy Sources in Hungary in the Southern Transdanubia Region

The European Union accepted its Europe 2020 strategy in March 2010. The strategy laid down the need to meet the 20/20/20 targets (reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, increase energy efficiency by 20% and increase the renewable energy usage by 20%) in the field of energy policy. In addition to these goals, the Council expressed its long-term and grandiose intention to reduce the carbon dioxide emission by 80–95% in the European Union and other developed and industrialized countries by 2050. Implementation of the EU commitment and the commitment determined by Hungary that exceeds the EU target requires establishment of hundreds of power plants using renewable energy sources in Hungary or conversion of power plants currently using fossil fuels into power plants using renewable energy sources. The Southern Transdanubia region is on the top in the context of both options. The town of Bóly has played a significant role in the Hungarian use of geothermal energy for public purpose district heating. The project which was started in 2003 brought only partial success, but the town continued the development. The second part finished in 2010, which makes it possible to not only fulfil the town’s communal needs but can also heat the town’s industrial park. Other towns in the region also use the opportunity in the region’s high geothermal gradient for energy purposes. Other towns such as Bonyhád, Szentlőrinc and Szigetvár followed Bóly’s positive example. Besides utilisation of the geothermal energy, solar power plants have shown up continuously in the past decade, not only with domestic but small plant nature. In 2013 the town of Sellye inaugurated the 0.5 MW capacity solar power park, which is capable to serve 250 family’s electricity need in a year. This plant was the biggest in the country the day it was inaugurated. Two solar power parks were built in Szigetvár between 2013 and 2015 with 0.5 MW capacity each, which is capable to serve nearly 500 family’s yearly electricity needs. The country’s biggest capacity (10 MW) solar plant was finished in the spring of 2016 in Pécs, the centre of the region. This plant probably will reduce the countries carbon dioxide emission by 15.000 ton annually. The application of the renewable energy sources is supported by tender sources from the European Union and the Hungarian government. The Operational Programme’s ‘Environment and Energy’ fourth priority axis (increasing the use of renewable energy sources) has supported the application of the renewable energy sources in the 2007–2013 EU tendering period. In the framework of the fourth priority, 1624 tenders got support in total of nearly HUF 88 billion. The Operational Programme supported tenders to establish and extend solar cells, solar collectors, geothermal power plants, heat pumps, bioheating plants and hydroelectric power plants. In the Southern Transdanubia region, 262 projects supporting the use of renewable energy sources received subsidies between 2007 and 2015. More than 80% of these projects supported the use of solar cells and solar collectors. The power plant of Pécs using coal and then natural gas was converted to utilise biomass. This power plant has nearly 85 MW electricity capacity and serves the district heating needs of 150.000 citizens in the city of Pécs.