HUNGARY

Hungary has no coal plants under construction or in planning stages and is a small coal producer and consumer. In March 2021, Hungary committed to shut down its last coal power plant in 2025, which it pledged to as a member of the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA). However, the country's four operating coal units are at the Matra power station, which reportedly uses lignite from the Bukkabrany and the Visonta Mines. In November 2023, the government stated that the Matra units would not be taken offline until replacement gas units were commissioned in 2027-29. Therefore, the country's coal phaseout was delayed by two to four years. Hungary also has four mothballed units at the Oroszlány power station. Hungary depends on nuclear and gas for most of its electricity needs. However, in 2021, the government said that it plans to increase solar capacity to 6,000 megawatts (MW) and use European Union funds to retrain workers affected by the closure of the Matra plant. Both a 200 MW solar farm and 500 MW gas plant were planned to be built on the Matra site.