EU approves Hungary’s renewable support scheme

The European Commission has given the green light for Hungary’s new support scheme for renewable energy. The initiative, with a yearly budget of around €146 million (£129m) provides state support […]

The European Commission has given the green light for Hungary’s new support scheme for renewable energy.

The initiative, with a yearly budget of around €146 million (£129m) provides state support for green projects, either through a Feed-in Tariff or a price premium.

Feed-in tariffs will be limited to small installations below 500kW and demonstration projects while installations with more than 500kW capacity will receive a premium on top of the market price of electricity.

For installations with a capacity above 1MW and wind projects, the premium will be determined through a competitive bidding process.

The Commission found the scheme will minimise potential distortions of competition created by the public funding and help keep electricity costs at bay for consumers.

Margrethe Vestager, Commissioner responsible for competition policy said: “We want to make progress towards clean energy for the sake of our environment but also for European economic growth. The Hungarian support scheme will increase the share of green energy in Hungary’s energy mix, whilst preserving competition in the electricity market.”

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