Hungarians curb power use as record low Danube waters trigger energy crunch

BUDAPEST - Hungarian companies and households have cut their power consumption this week in an unprecedented way, after a government appeal to ease pressure on the grid amid a severe drought that people have described as a “wake-up call”.

As Budapest braces for the peak of the heatwave on Aug 5 and Aug 6, with temperatures of 40 deg C to 42 deg C expected, some residents standing on the bare sandbanks of the record-low Danube at the foot of the city’s historic Margaret Bridge said the reality of climate change had finally kicked in.

The river’s levels have forced Hungary to largely shut down its sole nuclear plant, which uses the Danube’s waters as a coolant, creating an energy crisis stretching its power supply capacity to its limits, with imports surging.

The plant, the backbone of the grid, may keep running at just over 10 per cent of its capacity for weeks depending on the river’s levels.

“It’s a sad and scary thing, and a very serious warning to society that we need to be careful with our resources... It’s a very serious wake-up call,” Budapest resident Krisztina Nemeth said, looking at the Danube, wearing a straw hat against the heat.

Some people have built eerie cairns in the bare riverbed to mark the moment.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Peter Magyar has repeatedly thanked companies and households who have voluntarily reduced their power usage by 600MW to 700MW each day in the peak consumption period between 5pm and 10pm.

He wrote on Facebook on Aug 5 that more critical days lay ahead.

“The heatwave will peak today and tomorrow... so voluntary cutbacks in power consumption will be especially important between 5pm and 10pm,” Magyar said.

Switching off the air-con

An energy analyst who asked to remain unnamed said most of the power savings were by industrial users, but with total power demand exceeding 7,000MW now, the 600MW saving would roughly be as if people switched off a million average air-conditioners.

Magyar has said 837 medium-sized and large power users have made voluntary cutbacks, and the state railway had suspended freight transport between 5pm and 10pm, which means a saving of 60MW to 90MW in power demand every day.

The authorities said decorative lights on some famous Budapest landmarks have also been switched off.

But households were also doing a fine job, the Prime Minister said.

Budapest resident Csongor Szabo said: “We are trying to use the air-conditioner as little as possible at home. We really only use electrical appliances that are essential. And I think everyone in Hungary should do the same.”

The voluntary savings are all the more striking considering households had heavily subsidised energy bills under the previous government, a system hardly conducive to reducing consumption.

The European Union (EU) has recommended that Hungary wind down that scheme.

Magyar’s new government, which took power in May, has so far said it will keep the subsidies and has pledged to invest EU funds in the grid.

In July, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned that Hungary’s economic costs related to recurrent flooding and droughts are high and rising.

“Climate scenarios point to rising agricultural losses and infrastructure disruptions. Hungary may be one of the European countries most affected by river floods and severe droughts in the future,” it said in a report on July 27. REUTERS