E.ON Hungaria has commissioned four battery facilities on its distribution network, adding 4 MW of power and 12 MWh of storage capacity to manage expanding solar generation and short-term demand swings.
The installations are located in Puspokszilagy, Erdokertes, Saregres and Devecser. They are controlled by automated energy-management systems that monitor local network conditions and determine when the batteries should charge or discharge.
During heatwaves in July and August, E.ON adjusted the operation of active units to release electricity during evening peaks. The trials demonstrated that the batteries could provide rapid reserve capacity and local voltage support, in addition to absorbing surplus daytime solar output.
The four installations can handle volumes comparable to the production of about 1,000 household solar systems or the daily consumption of roughly 2,000 homes.
Investment totalled approximately €8.2 million, supported by the EU Modernisation Fund.
The projects remain small compared with utility-scale storage developments elsewhere in the region, but their location on the distribution network gives them a different role. They can address local congestion and voltage problems before these constraints require more expensive conventional network reinforcement.
For E.ON, the immediate benefit is operational experience. For Hungary’s electricity system, the larger test will be whether distributed storage can expand quickly enough to keep pace with solar capacity that is already reshaping the country’s daily generation profile.
