Say Hello to the New Leader in Solar Energy!

In six short years, Hungary boosted its solar energy production so much that, through generous government assistance programs, the European country overtook South America’s Chile as the world’s solar energy leader.

In 2018, solar energy accounted only for 2% of Hungary’s power output while in 2024, that proportion reached 25% of the country’s electricity generation. In August 2024, solar made up 37% of the country’s electricity generation.

The rise in solar energy has come at coal’s expense. The dirtiest fossil fuel’s share of the mix fell from 16% to 6% over the same period. A feed-in tariff program where homes and businesses are paid a fixed price for any power they sell into the grid has led to an average solar radiation of 1,280 kWh/m². Hungary’s Solar Energy Plus Program allowed the government to subsidize rooftop solar installations for some 21,000 households; the state covered two-thirds of the cost of a solar-plus-storage installation in a year. Over 300,000 small solar arrays – mostly installed on family houses – have a combined capacity of 2.7 gigawatts (GW) and are operational. With the inclusion of grid-scale facilities, the country has 7.8 GW of installed solar generating capacity. Policymakers wish to increase that capacity to 12 GW by 2030 to get 90% low-carbon power from 74% in 2024.