In the future, Hungary will receive significant amounts of green electricity from Azerbaijan by joining an international power line project, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó on Wednesday.
Szijjártó said the current situation clearly points to the importance of discovering new energy sources and including them in the country’s supply. In the short and medium term, one of the most important partners in this regard, if not the only one, is Azerbaijan, which is supported by the recently signed EU-Azerbaijan energy agreement.
“Our relations are of an absolutely strategic nature, and we have frequent exchanges of ideas, as was the case today when I had a telephone conversation with my colleague Parviz Shahbazov, the energy minister for Azerbaijan,” Szijjártó said.
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Sanctions on Russia have left countries across Europe scrambling to secure stable and cheap energy from abroad, which has sometimes led left-wing governments from nations like Germany to make deals with despotic regimes such as the United Arab Emirates, which has no democracy whatsoever, to secure energy supplies. Hungary has pushed for Europe to not pursue energy sanctions against Russia, arguing that European citizens will be harmed the most. Now, the Hungarian government sees Azerbaijan as a country that can potentially help ensure the country’s energy security.
“He [Shahbazov] introduced me to a great initiative, so we quickly reached an agreement: Azerbaijan will produce a large amount of green electricity, which will be delivered to Georgia and from there to Romania via an undersea cable,” said Hungary’s foreign minister.
Azerbaijan, which is in the South Caucus region bordering Armenia and Georgia, is known for its high number of hydroelectric power plants; however, its overall use of renewables such as wind, solar, and biomass energy are limited. It has not been confirmed exactly what type of green energy will be supplied to Hungary, but the country is a major exporter of gas.
“And today we agreed that Hungary will join this large-scale plan, since in order for the project to receive EU support, the participation of at least two member countries is necessary. In this way, green electricity can be transported to our country to partly use ourselves, and we can also partly serve as a transit route [for the rest],” he explained.
According to Szijjártó, this investment can realistically be realized in three to four years, according to a report from Hungarian news outlet Magyar Hírlap.
“Its creation would, on the one hand, be a great contribution to ensuring our energy supply, as it would be a completely new source of energy, and on the other hand, it would bring us even closer to achieving our carbon neutrality goals,” Szijjártó said. “We will receive the draft of the agreement soon, and seeing our common interests, we will definitely be able to quickly agree on the details.”
