Budapest Energy Summit - Press Release [Promoted]
The third Budapest Energy Summit was organised on the 1 December by White Paper Consulting, this year in a virtual format. The CEE region’s leading energy conference was followed by participants from more than 27 countries around the world providing this way a truly international platform for the regional and global energy community to discuss the driving trends of the industry and to identify the opportunities and challenges ahead of us.
The third Budapest Energy Summit gathered the leaders of the energy industry, connecting policymakers, the business ecosystem and innovators to review how the sector has coped so far with the challenges of the fast-moving coronavirus situation and adjusted to the „new normal”.
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Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó gave the opening speech of the conference highlighting the historic gas purchase agreement concluded this year, which is the first long-term supply contract in the history of Hungary with a Western player. The Hungarian Foreign Minister pointed out that Hungarian companies could successfully book 1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of capacity annually at the Krk LNG terminal in Croatia, which will be operational will be operational from the beginning of next year. According to Mr Szijjártó the LNG deliveries will largely contribute to Hungary’s energy security.
Kadri Simson, Commissioner for Energy at the European Commission underlined that achieving climate neutrality requires the transformation of our entire economy, for the benefits of the whole society. The Green Deal provides a comprehensive vision that covers many sectors and offers a credible growth strategy for the future – added Ms Simson.
Gergely Szabó, Regional Chairman of MET Central Europe said: The COVID-crisis provided us with a future snapshot of how digitalisation will play a powerful role in our industry and it will also be a factor of unleashing disruptive solutions. We are heading towards a data-driven culture in which the most efficient data-process systems and the related decision-making mechanisms will be essential attributes of the successful market players.
Leaders of MET Group, E.ON Hungária Zrt. and Shell discussed in a panel discussion the impacts of the pandemic situation on the global gas market, which has undergone many changes recently.
Mahdjouba Belaifa, Head of Gas Market Analysis Department of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) highlighted in her assessment that gas markets are more resilient to economic shocks, yet there is still a dire need to cooperate and collaborate together to mitigate their exposure to unprecedented circumstances.
Leaders of the biggest players; Tellurian, NOVATEK, TurkStream, MET Group and MFGK Hungarian Gas Trade Ltd. agreed that new regional gas infrastructure projects were long-awaited because they allow more trading, which means more competition and more opportunities.
According to Szabolcs I. Ferencz, Chairman of the Board and CEO, FGSZ Natural Gas Transmission Ltd. one thing is for certain: even in long term gas will still be used to meet energy demands. FGSZ knows that the wind of change has started to blow, while as the saying goes: „we cannot direct the wind”, we can adjust the sales, what we have already started, and we are in the best position to riding those new waves with success. – he added.
László Varró, Chief Economist of the International Energy Agency (IEA) presented for the first time in the region the IEA’s flagship publication, the World Energy Outlook 2020. In his presentation, he emphasised that energy demand is set to fall by 5 per cent in 2020, the largest shock in seventy years, but not all fuels felt the impact in the same way, renewables emerged as a clear winner.
Péter Kaderják, Hungary’s Minister of State for Energy and Climate Policy introduced in his speech the policy goals of the Hungarian energy- and climate strategy. Mr Kaderják started by confirming that Hungary is fully dedicated to get to net-zero by 2050, this is enshrined in law. He emphasised that pursuing climate objectives must be balanced with supply security considerations and competitiveness. Hungary is willing to go ahead with more ambitious middle-term climate goals but we would like to see more progress in the EU in terms of climate convergence.- said Mr Kaderják.
Completing the decarbonization of the electricity sector is one of the urgent tasks as Hungary would like to see 90 per cent of its power production becoming carbon-free by 2030. The clean mix will rely largely on new nuclear investment, phasing out lignite capacity, scaling up solar, while keeping gas a back-up capacity for flexibility and investment in grid infrastructure.
Daniel Yergin, energy expert and Pulitzer-price winning author also attended the Budapest Energy Summit introducing his latest bestseller The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations. Considering what is at stake for the CEE region’s energy agenda after the recent US elections, the conference featured Kurt Donnelly, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Energy Resources and Kevin Book, Managing Director, ClearView Energy Partners LLC who shared their insights on the expected turning points of US energy policy.
Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe speak at the Budapest Energy Summit about the role of renewables in our future energy system. To decarbonise the energy system, we can look at a scenario based on 100% renewables in 2050. The results are surprising: it is not more expensive, on the contrary, we have seen a 6 per cent lower cost overall compared to a scenario when we still have fossil fuels. – said Ms Hemetsberger.
Dr Graham Cooley, CEO of the world’s leading green hydrogen technology company, ITM Power highlighted that the reason why everybody in Europe is now interested in green hydrogen is first because of the cost reduction, secondly because it is the only net-zero gas if we want to achieve a net-zero future.
The reality is that the energy industry is slow to change and the transition of the energy system will take a long time, because of its size, its complexity and the amount of infrastructure required to keep it running efficiently – said Jeroen Kirschbaum, Lead Country Manager, ExxonMobil Global Business Center Hungary. We seek to improve the society, we are inspired to solve big problems and we know that we can make a real difference for the world through the application of science, technology and innovation.- Mr Kirschbaum concluded.
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Evelin Szőke
White Paper Consulting
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