A solar power plant and energy storage facility in Baracska will boost the supply of renewable energy

The Baracska project has a planned lifespan of 30 years. According to the deputy managing director of VPP Energy, the company responsible for the construction, the project was carried out at a cost of 3.3 billion forints. Zoltán Szabó said that the European Union provided a non-repayable investment grant of 530.39 million forints towards the 1.78 billion forints required to build the energy storage facility.

The solar power plant was built on a seven-hectare site

The energy storage facility built in Baracska can feed 5 megawatts of electricity into the grid within an hour and can store 20 megawatts; when fully charged, the battery storage system can continuously supply the stored energy for 4 hours. Zoltán Szabó said that, according to their estimates, the solar power plant built on a 7-hectare site in Baracska will generate 10.6 gigawatt-hours annually, which is roughly equivalent to the annual consumption of 3,300 average households.

When fully charged, the battery can provide a continuous supply of power for 4 hours

The associated energy storage system is capable of feeding 5 megawatts of electricity into the grid within an hour, and has a storage capacity of 20 megawatt-hours: when fully charged, it can continuously supply the stored energy for four hours. The aim of the development is to balance out fluctuations in solar energy production and to make electricity that has been generated but not immediately used available for later use.

They would also install a wind turbine

The deputy CEO also spoke of further plans, including the possibility of supplementing this development with a wind farm; however, no final decision has yet been made on this. Based on their preliminary calculations, the wind farm will be capable of generating an additional 15 gigawatt-hours per year alongside the solar power plant. Zoltán Szabó explained that the VPP group was the project developer; they established RackaLit Kft. as the project company, which was subsequently acquired by the investor, Eurus Energy Europe BV.
Javier Carrero, managing director of RackaLit Kft., added that the Baracska investment is the Eurus Group’s first development in Hungary, but they are thinking in terms of long-term developments, which is why they wish to contribute to the realisation of carbon-free energy production in Hungary as well.