Hungary achieves outstanding results in the use of renewable energy sources
Hungary's dependence on energy imports has been reduced, and its production of renewable energy sources increased strongly last year.
The Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Office has released its energy statistics report based on preliminary data for 2021. It shows that gross electricity produced from renewable energy sources increased by 25.9 percent and heat from renewable energy sources by 6.1 percent compared to 2020. Primary energy production from solar energy increased by 52.9 percent compared to the previous year.
In 2021, imports of petroleum, petroleum derivatives and natural gas provided a significant share of primary domestic consumption, but petroleum imports fell by 1.5 percent and net energy imports of natural gas fell by 5.7 percent.
The declining dependence on imported natural gas was due to the use of stocks built up in 2019–2020 for supply security, on the one hand, and the decline in imports, on the other. At the end of last year, the level of stored natural gas was at 49.5 percent.
Last year, the decline in primary energy production observed in the last four years continued, while primary domestic consumption increased by 4.9 percent compared to the previous year.
Production from primary fossil fuels decreased by 7.8 percent and from nuclear sources by 0.5 percent compared to the previous year. Primary renewable energy sources and waste accounted for 12.5 percent of primary domestic consumption.
Nearly two-thirds of gross electricity generated, 63.5 percent in total, came from carbon-neutral sources, of which 44.3 percent came from nuclear and 19.3 percent from renewables.
