Background information

The government published on its website a call for grants supporting combined solar energy and accumulator investments in the homes of private individuals in December 2023. The pre-registration started on 15 January. Homeowners who permanently live on their property are eligible. A stated objective of the programme is to maintain the fast expansion of the rooftop solar sector even after the introduction of gross metering of solar energy production and consumption from 2024, which is much less beneficial for solar prosumers than the previous net metering system. Solid and liquid biofuel and waste still accounted for most of the renewable energy supply in Hungary in 2022, according to IEA data. Despite the significant growth in solar energy generation, solar, wind and geothermic energy still made up only 20.5% of the renewable energy supply in 2022 (up from 15.8% in 2020).

Content of measure

The measure is aimed at reducing the amount of energy drawn from the electric network, thereby reducing the energy bills of households, and reducing carbon emissions. The programme started with a budget of HUF 75.8 billion or about €200 million. The maximum amount that can be awarded per applicant is HUF 5 million. The grants cannot cover more than 66% of the overall cost of the investment. Winners of the grants must build their new solar systems, combined with energy storage systems, within 24 months of receiving their grant contracts. The power of the inverter has to fall between 4 and 5 kW, while the performance of the solar panels cannot exceed 120% of the power of the inverter. The capacity of the storage system has to fall between 7.5 and 10 kWh. Builders (contractors) must register in the government database set up for this purpose in order to be eligible for implementing a project. Funding for the programme is expected to come from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Use of measure

As of 1 February 2024, about 800 contractors applied for pre-registration, about 200 of which were already approved; and more than 26,000 households have pre-registered for the programme since pre-registration began in mid-January 2024. Out of the households whose pre-registration the government officially accepted, about 4,000 have already submitted their detailed application for subsidy. The official projection for the number of beneficiaries is 15,160 but if the households require smaller grants than the maximum amount, the number of beneficiaries may be larger. More than 1,300 payment requests were filed in the Solar Power Plus programme, so this is the number of households that have completed investments, the state secretary for energy and climate policy said in November 2024. A total of HUF 1.7bn in funding was requested for small PV power plant investment and nearly HUF 200m has already been paid out, raising the number of such plants to 300,000 in Hungary, he said. The total of requested funding is nearing HUF 84 billion, so it is likely that around 20,000 applicants can be funded, more than the 15,000 originally envisaged, he added.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies	Other groups of citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	European Funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Informed	Informed
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

A Recovery and Resiliance Facility (RRF) Monitoring Committee has been set up to oversee projects including the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, MKIK and two trade union representatives (the National Association of Workers 'Councils [MOSZ] and the Democratic League of Independent Trade Unions [Liga]). Other members are from ministries and civil organizations, such as the Energyclub, various environmental organisations, , the National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers, the National Association of Large Families, etc. The Monitoring Committee meets at least twice a year

Views and reactions

The CEO of one of the solar sector firms praised the programme for eschewing the restrictions regarding maximum income levels or the minimum number of children that narrowed down the pool of potential beneficiaries in the case of the previous solar programme for low-income residents. On the other hand, an expert of Habitat for Humanity criticised that the maximum subsidy intensity is 66%, which implies that only families with above-average income levels will be able to benefit from the scheme. The same expert emphasised that the magnitude of the programme is far too small to get even closer to the aim of renovating 3% of the housing stock annually, an objective stated in the Hungarian long-term renovation strategy. The solar power group MNNSZ finds it regrettable that the new programme practically forces the solar companies to partially pre-finance the installations, taking significant risks. (The state only provides an advance payment amounting to no more than 40% of the contract price.)

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 17 October 2022: Telexhu-Solar panel scheme suspended (telex.hu)
• 18 November 2022: Energy office MEKH resolution 13/2022 (mod 2023) (njt.hu)
• 05 October 2023: Govt decision 1431_2023 on Solar Plus (njt.hu)
• 11 November 2023: HVG: Solar Plus to disappoint (hvg.hu)
• 20 December 2023: Hundreds of contractors sign up for Solar Plus (www.mnnsz.hu)
• 11 January 2024: False info on solar plu (hvg.hu)
• 16 January 2024: Solar users' 12 demand (www.mnnsz.hu)
• 01 February 2024: 25th families in solar plus (www.mnnsz.hu)
• 15 February 2024: Mavir PV statistics (mavir.hu)
• 03 November 2024: 1300 payment requests in solar power plus -state sec (www.portfolio.hu)