At the invitation of the Hungarian Renewable Energy Association, István Szabó, Director of Strategy Development at CWS, attended the association’s GREEN TALKS conference in Budapest on 15 October 2026.
The closed professional event brought together leading market players, experts and decision-makers to review the sector’s current issues. The day opened with a keynote by Krisztina Tarjányi, Deputy State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy and Energy, on the next chapter of Hungary’s National Energy Strategy.
Almost the entire programme focused on wind power. Simon Müller, former head of renewables system integration at the IEA, presented lessons from Germany’s permitting reforms. Dr. Gábor Babus (Deloitte Legal) reviewed the regulatory obstacles to restarting wind in Hungary and the questions around acceleration areas. In the afternoon panel, moderated by Róbert Fehér (8G Energy), representatives of the ministries, MVM Zöld Generáció and WWF discussed how to speed up permitting while safeguarding nature protection and national defence interests.
For CWS it was especially valuable to see the discussion move to the practical questions of delivery. One aspect received little attention, however: most of Hungary’s wind fleet was built between 2005 and 2011, so these turbines are gradually reaching the end of their design life. Their sites already have wind history, grid connection and local acceptance. Repowering the existing ~330 MW could be one of the fastest routes to expanding wind power in Hungary.
We thank the Hungarian Renewable Energy Association for the invitation and an excellent event.