Hungary’s Ministry of Energy Affairs has announced the National Geothermal Strategy to boost geothermal energy use from the current 6.4 PJ to 8 PJ by 2026, then to 12-13 PJ by 2030, increasing the share of geothermal energy in Hungary's total heat production from 6.5% to 25-30% over that horizon. Geothermal is expected to replace about 1.2 bcm of gas by 2035.
Hungary estimates that around HUF165bn (€420m) of funding is needed to create a favourable financial environment for investments. In the first phase of the strategy, the Ministry of Energy Affairs is launching a HUF34bn (€86m) state subsidised investment credit facility (the Geothermal Investment Loan Facility) for drilling to mitigate investors’ risks with an additional investment of about HUF20bn (€50m) to install district heating by public institutions.
Hungary is estimated to have the highest geothermal potential in Europe (installed thermal capacity of 350 MWth with 8 000 drillings), with the technology providing about 11% of the country’s district heating systems in 2021.