Electrical Flexibility: Veolia Acquires A State-Of-The-Art Power Plant In Hungary From Uniper

• 430 mégawatts complete Veolia's flexible energy portfolio to meet the needs of resilient power systems.
• Demand for ancillary services continues to grow, with current flexibility volumes in the EU power system needing to be doubled by 2030 to keep pace with the growth of fluctuating renewable electricity supply¹.

Veolia, via its Hungarian subsidiary, has signed an agreement with Uniper for the acquisition of a power plant with an installed capacity of around 430 megawatts.

Located in Gönyű, in north-west Hungary, the gas-fired combined-cycle power plant is the most modern and efficient in the country. It plays a crucial role in regulating and balancing the Hungarian power grid, thanks to cutting-edge technologies that make its production capacities flexible.

With this operation, Veolia continues to strengthen its position as European leader in this promising and strategic market, and to expand its portfolio, which now represents a volume of 2.4 gigawatts of managed flexible electrical energy, equivalent to the energy needs of 2,6 million inhabitants.

In the context of European energy mix evolution towards more renewables and therefore more intermittent production, demand for ancillary services, and in particular electrical flexibility, continues to grow, with a rising need for power grid balancing. It requires both enhanced electricity interconnection and operators with cutting-edge digital expertise to aggregate the production capacity of several power generation units and provide the grid with flexible energy volumes that can be introduced or withdrawn from the grid as required.

"This agreement is right in line with our ambitions to develop flexibility capacities, an essential complement to the stability of the European power grid," said Estelle Brachlianoff, Veolia's Chief Executive Officer. "As a long-standing player in the Hungarian energy market, we are delighted to be able to widen our footprint in order to further contribute to reinforcing the resilience of the local power system."

Completion of the transaction remains subject to obtaining the necessary authorizations and complying with applicable regulations.

¹ Flexibility solutions to support a decarbonised and secure EU electricity system report (sept 2023).