Hungary's energy regulator has published a draft public tender for the allocation of available capacity on the medium- and high-voltage electricity network, opening the proposal for industry consultation. The tender, issued by Magyar Energetikai és Közmű-szabályozási Hivatal (MEKH), is based on Hungary's Electricity Act and Decree 11/2025, following a request from the country's energy minister. The draft specifies that wind power must be the primary generation technology at all network nodes included in the tender. Battery energy storage may be included only as a secondary energy source.
Tender requirements
The tender covers new and expanded grid connection rights for the commissioning or conversion of wind power plants connected to the medium- and high-voltage network. No capacity will be allocated for electricity consumption.
Applicants must be business entities under Hungarian law and request at least 15 MVA of available grid capacity alongside a minimum installed wind power capacity of 15 MW. Applications must be submitted electronically through Hungary's national administration portal, with all documentation provided in Hungarian.
Timeline
Applications will be accepted from 1 September until 18 September 2026. An online briefing on the tender process will take place on 3 September, with written questions accepted for two working days afterwards. The results are due to be announced by 2 December 2026.
Financial requirements
The documentation fee for this tender has been set at HUF 0, although applicants must pay a participation fee for each application. They are also required to provide a bid bond equal to 0.5% of a benchmark investment value, calculated using reference values of HUF 406 million/MW for wind power and HUF 200 million/MWh for battery energy storage. Successful applicants must later provide a performance bond of at least 2.5% of the same benchmark investment value.
Evaluation criteria
Applications will be assessed by a five-member evaluation committee, with support from alternate members where required. Following an initial compliance review, applicants will have one opportunity to correct deficiencies before valid submissions are ranked for each network node.
The assessment will consider factors including commitments beyond the minimum grid balancing requirements, combined capacity behind shared grid connections, land quality, acceptance of partial awards, higher performance bonds, project maturity, environmental and permitting status, long-term electricity supply agreements with municipalities, and whether the project requires mandatory network asset transfer.
Project obligations
Successful applicants must commission or convert their wind power plants and bring them into commercial operation within the deadlines set out in the award decision. In most cases, the connection deadline is 24 months after the earliest available connection date for the relevant network node.
Failure to meet key procedural requirements, including submitting a grid connection request, providing financial security, signing the connection agreement and paying connection fees within the required timeframes, may result in the loss of the allocated grid connection rights and the associated financial guarantees.
MEKH notes that the published document is a draft for consultation and may be amended before the final tender is issued. Several annex references, participation fee details and contact information remain to be completed.
