Hungarian Minister of Technology and Industry Laszlo Palkovics said that the country aims to achieve a goal of reducing natural gas consumption to between 3 and 4 billion cubic meters per year in the next 30 years, from current 11.5 billion cubic meters. The country will also significantly reduce its exposure to imported gas by 2050, through non-fossil domestic energy production.
Minister Palkovics said that the plan was to replace the predominantly gas-fired district heating systems with geothermal energy, but that a strategy for biomass-fired energy was also being prepared. The Hungarian plans under implementation are therefore about domestically produced energy sources with a much lower environmental impact.
Hungary’s current energy transition plan aims to meet all the requirements of climate objectives and strives for affordability. It takes into account the impact of energy production on the environment, and keeps in mind the availability requirement, which means whether there is enough of the energy carrier or whether it can be produced, Minister Palkovics explained.