The company has been involved in the capital's energy supply for more than 100 years. The very first power plant unit, the recently closed Révész utca heating plant, was built in 1906, the Újpest Power Plant began operating in 1910, and the Kelenföld Power Plant in 1914. All of the power plants operated with coal for many decades, which was replaced by heating oil and finally natural gas from the 1960s.
In Budapest, district heat supply for industrial purposes started in 1953 and for residential purposes in 1958 from the Kelenföldi Power Plant. In the early 1960s, new power plants were built in Angyalföld, Kispest and Kőbánya in order to meet the growing needs of the population (of these, only the modernized Kispest Power Plant is currently in operation). Their basic goal is to continuously and reliably produce energy from a clean energy carrier, at the highest possible efficiency, with minimal environmental impact.
As a result of the continuously realized developments, both thermal energy and electricity production are realized with a favorable degree of efficiency and at a lower and lower cost level. Due to the benefits provided by combined energy production, mainly due to the less and less specific fuel consumption, the burden on the environment is gradually reduced. Current emissions are less than one-fifth of what they were before the 15-year power plant modernization program.
By producing environmentally friendly and efficient energy, Budapesti Erőmű Zrt. proves that the power plant and the population can live safely in each other's immediate environment, while keeping the interests of the other in mind and working for future generations. The facility strives to carry out its energy production activities taking into account the principles of the Best Available Techniques:
- uses the fossil fuel with the most favorable properties, natural gas, to operate its equipment;
- in the course of its energy-producing activities, it tries to maximize the share of the most efficient combined-cycle combined energy production;
- takes long-term development goals into account during its investments in order to further increase energy efficiency.
Budapesti Erőmű Zrt. is currently the capital's most important energy producer. It produces nearly 60% of the capital's district heat demand. The national market share of produced electricity exceeds 4.2%. As a result of the technological upgrades, by improving the quality of the service, it provides non-stop district heating to more than 140,000 consumers living in district-heated apartments, nearly half a million of them, and 4,100 of them, increasing the comfort of consumers. In order to strengthen Budapest's district heating assets and meet the energy needs of the future, the company cooperates with its strategic partners and local governments.
Some figures about Budapesti Erőmű Zrt:
- 214 employees
- 396.4 MWe + 10 MWe installed electricity capacity
- 1174 MWth installed thermal energy capacity
- issued electricity: 1354 GWh
- released thermal energy: 6575 TJ
- fuel heat consumption: 13910 TJ (4.4% of the country's natural gas consumption)
- electrical/thermal conversion [σ]: 0.74
- energy expenditure efficiency: 82.3%
- primary energy saving index in domestic comparison: 34.49%
- the non-emitted amount of CO2 compared to direct production is 411,000 tons/year (CO2 emissions of 206,000 average-use passenger cars)
Budapesti Erőmű Zrt.'s gas turbines have been reliably participating in the secondary regulation of the national electricity system since 2012 by utilizing their flexibly controllable capabilities in an extremely wide power range. From 2018, Kelenföldi Erőmű also participates in tertiary regulation.