Flooding threatens Hungarian energy services? – UPDATED

Flooding on the River Danube poses no threat to energy services in Hungary, the energy ministry said on Saturday.

Energy Minister Csaba Lantos said gas and electricity had been turned off temporarily in some settlements affected by the flooding, but added that no interruption to countrywide services was expected.

Early on Friday, a second-degree flood alert was ordered on the Danube at the site of the Paks nuclear power plant, but this is not expected to be raised to the third degree as the Danube peaks, the ministry said.

None of the power lines or transformer stations of electricity grid operator MAVIR are threatened by flooding, it added.

Two sluices at oil and gas company MOL’s Danube Refinery have been closed and sandbags have been used to reinforce two points, but operation is continuing without interruption, the ministry said.

Geothermal a leading sector of green economy

State secretary for energy and climate policy Attila Steiner highlighted geothermal as a leading sector of the green economy, opening the Budapest Geothermal Summit on Friday.

Steiner said geothermal energy played an important role in achieving decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector which account for around half of the European Union’s total energy consumption and about 35pc of its greenhouse gas emissions.

He noted that Hungary was among the top five EU countries in terms of geothermal heat production, with geothermal district heating in twelve cities, including the biggest system in continental Europe, in Szeged.

Steiner said Hungary aimed to double its production of geothermal energy by 2030, reducing gas consumption by 500 million cubic metres by the end of the decade and by around 1.2 billion cubic metres by 2035.

He acknowledged obstacles preventing geothermal energy utilisation, such as overregulation, financial and geological risk, and low public awareness, and said the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU was ready to cooperate with member states on delivering tangible proposals to address those hurdles.

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