Romania will help Hungary’s battery revolution with energy, electricity?
It seems that Hungarian battery plants will use Romanian energy, but that is bad news for Putin and his regime.
According to telex.hu, Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, travelled to Bucharest weeks ago to sign an important deal with the Romanian government. At first, they agreed to extend gas transport capacities between the two countries. Furthermore, they did so in the case of electricity transportation.
Of course, it is not Hungary that would export energy or electricity to Romania. That is because Romania has every chance to become one of the crucial energy exporters of the region in 5-10 years. Instead, the Hungarian battery plants will work with Romanian electricity and gas.
Romania acquires 1/4 of its electricity consumption with the help of hydroelectric power plants. Moreover, the backbone of that system is pump storage plants. Therefore, the system’s regulation ability is significant compared to the size of the country, telex.hu wrote. That means Romanians can build as many solar and wind power farms as they want because the system will not collapse like in Hungary, where energy (e.g. following a series of summer sunny days) cannot be stored.
Romania will help Hungary become independent from Russia?
Furthermore, they would like to build nuclear power plants with American help. Therefore, Romania will be able to export large amounts of electricity soon. Meanwhile, Hungary attracts energy-intensive activities like battery manufacturing or carmaking.
Hungary is highly dependent on foreign gas transfers. 80% comes from abroad, mainly from Russia. Meanwhile, Romania has a gas field in the Black Sea (Neptune), where the first molecules will come out in 2027-2028, thanks to Romanian-Austrian cooperation.
Concerning gas, Romania may substitute 20-40% of the Russian import, which is considerable. Furthermore, Romania can produce electricity with gas. As a result, Romania may become Hungary’s biggest gas supplier behind Russia by the 2030s.
That might be bad news for Putin and his regime. PM Orbán and FM Szijjártó regularly highlight that Hungary is dependent on Russia. That is why Hungary cannot give the green light to sanctions concerning the sectors. Others believe there are political reasons behind that cabinet standpoint, and the cooperation between Orbán and Putin will not stop even after a possible gas secession.
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