We are one step closer to our country's first reservoirs to produce electricity

Exploratory drilling to investigate the feasibility of a pumped storage reservoir (PES) in Borsod and Heves counties was completed by the end of the summer, the Ministry of Energy (EM) said in a Facebook post on Monday.

As we have written before, the SZET is a globally proven tool: it consists of reservoirs built at different levels and connected by pipelines. In the system, electricity generated in excess of instantaneous demand is stored by pumping water from the lower reservoir to the upper one. By re-injecting it, a turbine and generator can be driven, so that electricity can be cheaply and cleanly recycled to meet consumption needs.

Measurements could start after several decades

According to the EM, pumped-storage power plants are used in many countries to balance the fluctuations in the output of weather-dependent renewables. In Hungary, too, plans for a similar development have been mooted from time to time, and after decades of waiting, a detailed feasibility study based on test drilling is being carried out for the first time.

This has included drilling and surface geophysical measurements, which have now been completed. According to the information, exploratory drilling and surface geophysical measurements were carried out in recent months in two locations, in the Markaz area in Heves county and in the vicinity of the Nagybarca-Sajóivánka-Vadna villages in Borsod. The exploration activities were carried out in the shortest possible time and in the smallest possible area, with minimum disturbance to the forest, field and meadow habitats concerned. "The fieldwork carried out will provide useful basic technical and scientific information for the preparation of the preliminary study documentation," the statement says.

Hungary has the third highest share of solar energy in electricity generation in the world

According to the plans presented earlier, the first domestic RES-E plant would have an installed capacity of 600 megawatts and would be capable of generating power for 6 hours, the time it would take for water to flow from the upper reservoir to the lower one. To protect the water in the basins and ensure responsible water management, part of the water surface would be covered with floating solar panels, which would also reduce evaporation.

They point out that Hungary's share of solar energy was the third highest in the world and the second highest in Europe. The operation of weather-dependent systems can be efficiently coordinated with their use if a solution is found to store the electricity generated in an environmentally friendly way.