How the regime hampered a transition to renewable electricity in Hungary

Miklós Antal

doi:10.1016/j.eist.2019.04.004

Abstract

With respect to wind and solar electricity, Hungary is a laggard in the European Union. Key geographical and economic factors fail to explain this. Using the multi-level framework, I rely on technological and policy documents, 21 expert interviews, and more than 1500 news pieces to better understand why the breakthrough of wind and solar energy has not happened yet. I show why the nuclear industry and the government, understood as one regime, could respond to niche developments and landscape changes. Early actions by the regime, limited media discussions, weak landscape pressures, and various mechanisms that characterize illiberal states were responsible for this. While motivations of the regime are not disclosed, potential reasons for the broad energy policy directions are discussed. The article highlights socio-political aspects of the compatibility of nuclear energy and renewables, and calls attention to differences between liberal and illiberal states in both transition processes and their analysis.

Highlights

The Energy Roadmap of the European Union lays out an ambitious plan to achieve 80-95% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to the 1990 level (ECF, 2010)
What explains the low penetration of wind and solar energy in Hungary? The present study looks at the main factors and mechanisms that might be responsible for this
The present study investigates interactions between the three levels in the case of a blocked transition, in contrast with the majority of multi-level perspective (MLP) studies that focus on singular niche innovations and successful transitions (Geels, 2018)

Summary

Introduction

The Energy Roadmap of the European Union lays out an ambitious plan to achieve 80-95% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to the 1990 level (ECF, 2010). This is unimaginable without a fundamental transition of energy systems (GEA, 2012). The fastest change in several European countries has been observed in the electricity sector. The most widely discussed example is Germany, where in the 15 years after 2000 the share of renewable sources increased from less than 7% to almost 30% (AGEB, 2016). Several countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) have added very little lowcarbon capacity recently, especially neglecting intermittent renewables which have the largest growth potential

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion