ABO Wind Commissions its Second Solar Park in Hungary

German project developer ABO Wind has commissioned its second solar project in Hungary. The solar park with 6.5 megawatts peak installed capacity (5.2 megawatts connected load) is located near Püspökladány in eastern Hungary. The project has been permitted according to the old remuneration system (KÁT) that was in place until the end of 2016, and thus is entitled to an indexed fixed tariff of currently approximately 33 HUF/kWh over a period of 20 years from commissioning. For new projects, an auction system has now replaced the former feed-in tariff.

“ABO Wind wants to make a substantial contribution to further expanding Hungary’s renewable energy supply,” says General Manager Dr. Patrik Fischer. “We are planning to participate with further solar projects in future auctions as well as develop projects for private purchase agreements and bring them online together with our investors.”

ABO Wind develops renewable energy projects in 16 countries on four continents and has more than 600 employees. The company has developed energy plants with a total capacity of more than 3,000 megawatts worldwide. The Hungarian subsidiary ABO Wind Hungary Kft. was founded in 2018 and is operating from Budapest. In Létavértes, about 50 kilometers east of Püspökladány, ABO Wind had commissioned its first Hungarian project with 6.2 MWp installed capacity in mid-2019. The company’s Hungarian subsidiary is working on a triple digit megawatts pipeline, among them additional projects entitled to a KÁT tariff.

ABO Wind has recently sold both commissioned projects in Hungary with a total of 12.7 megawatts peak installed capacity to Danish investor Obton A/S.

“Our cooperation with ABO Wind has been excellent and we are looking forward to further acquisitions in Hungary, as we are planning to expand our Hungarian portfolio,” says CEO Anders Marcus.

Hungary is among the smaller European markets for renewable energies: Only about 10 per cent of the country’s power is generated by renewables. To date there is a predominance of nuclear energy. Within the renewable sector, solar energy and biomass are the main branches. The capacity of solar energy, which had been 700 megawatts in 2018, has grown to about 1.1 gigawatts in mid-2019.