Revisiting the Management of Stationary Fuel Supply Security and Gas Diversification in Hungary

Abstract

This paper aims to assess the security of stationary fuel supply in Hungary by applying the threedimensional approach, encompassing availability, affordability and sustainability. The main focus is on primary energy fuels in relation to electricity, but the approach is also applied, in part, to electricity itself. It is shown how select influencing factors affect the choices made from among security of supply dimensions. Although providing a source-by-source review, special attention is paid to nuclear energy and natural gas. For a long time, natural gas has been the fuel that Hungary is particularly sensitive to in terms of security of energy supply. Thus, gas diversification has become a key issue, analysed here also by using my own gas diversification scheme. I find that considerable progress has been made in this area. However, along with the 2014 decision on the construction of new units at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant (Paks II), aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in Hungarian electricity supplies, the energy agenda has changed considerably. With Paks II, Hungary's dependence will both decrease and increase-as new types of risks emerge. In such circumstances, a Nuclear-Solar/Biomass-Natural Gas concept of the electricity mix seems to be emerging in Hungary.

Energy Governance in Hungary

“…It introduced a de facto ban on new wind power plant projects in 2016, with no new permits issued since 2006. There are multiple theories as to why this executive decision was taken, a plausible one of which is that the technology was overly linked to the Socialist government's scandalous distribution of construction quotas in 2006an act that the Fidesz government had looked to distance itself from (Weiner 2019). We also see this ban linked to the government's energy policy priorities that focused on Paks II.…”