According to the report of the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Office (MEKH), the balance of the domestic electricity market in June was much lower than a year earlier. The gross monthly system load was 8.53 % lower than a year earlier, and only about 2 % of the decrease can be explained by the fact that the average monthly temperature also fell. The situation would have been even worse without the production of small household power plants, with system load falling by 9.71 percent.
Power plant output fell by 10.65 % compared to June last year, as planned maintenance for nuclear, lignite and gas plants coincided.
The output of NPP Paks was reduced by a quarter in two-thirds of the month, with the capacity reducing to 236 MW in the last third. Unit 3 of Dunamenti power plant was not operational for two-thirds of June and had barely returned to production when the maintenance at the Gonyu power plant started. The Ujpest power plant remained idle, Nyiregyhaza power plant was out of operation for the whole of June, while Debrecen and Csepel power plants operated on an ad hoc basis.
As a result, gas-fired generation was on average 600 MW short in June, with combined generation almost 23 % lower than in June last year. As the maintenance of unit 4 of TPP Matra has been ongoing since May, the plant’s total capacity was reduced by 224 MW and the total domestic fossil capacity was 20.48 % below that of June 2022.
However, maximum solar generation of 2,533 GWh is 43.63 % higher than a year earlier. Overall, renewable generation was 64 % higher than last year.
Even with lower production, the role of electricity imports has declined – 26.4 % of domestic supply in June, down from 29.87 % in May.
European electricity flows in June were mainly driven by high import demand from Germany and strong supply from the Balkans. This effect was so strong that Hungary was in a net export position regarding Slovakia.
Monthly average hourly export capacity was 70 MW to Slovakia, while average imports from this direction typically exceeded 1,000 MW (2022 average was 1,443 MW). Hungary’s two main sources of imports this month were Romania and Serbia, where abundant hydro generated and the completion of nuclear plant maintenance in Romania and Bulgaria resulted in strong supply. Imports from Serbia reached 543 MW in June, the highest level in a year and a half. However, Hungary has also moved into an import position with all its southern neighbors, including Croatia and Slovenia.
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Tags: electricity, electricity production, gas, solar, statistics