According to the Hungarian Energy and Public Utility Regulatory Authority (MEKH), domestic electricity production was 2.4 % higher than in January 2021.
The production of nuclear units (+0.3% ) and gas- fired units (-1 %) was essentially the same, while the production of lignite-fired units (+4.3 %) and renewables (+18 %) increased. 47.7 % of Hungarian production was provided by nuclear units, 13.4 % by modern CCGTs, 15.7 % by lower efficiency CCGTs, 8.9 % by lignite-fired units, with 4 % provided by solar power plants.
Gross domestic consumption was 4.6 % higher than in January last year. On 25 January, the transmission system load reached a new record of 7,396 MW.
The Gonyu CCGT operated continuously, while the Dunamenti G3 only started production on 10 January. The Csepel CCGT operated only on working days, at low utilization, providing flexibility to the system. The BERT, Debrecen and Nyiregyhaza CCGTs, which also provide heat, operated with high utilization, so their free capacity was low. The production of smaller gas- fired units was also determined by heat demand and their activity on the balancing market.
In January, the import balance (28.2 %) was higher than in January 2021 (26.7 %). Based on trade flows, Hungary imported from Romania in addition to Slovakia, Austria and Ukraine. The Slovak import capacity operated at high utilization, the typical AT>HU flow changed to HU>AT on some days. The typical Romanian imports at the beginning of the month changed to HU>RO flow for several days after 20 January. Between 10 and 12 January, in addition to the lower northern import volume, Hungary also imported from Serbia. Otherwise HU>RS flow was typical.
