Management of the Hungarian Energy Office - Magyar Energia Hivatal

and retail market players who, following a market analysis,
turn out to have signifi cant market power. The imposition
of obligations all served to prevent the abuse of market
power and enhance the effi ciency of competition. HEO,
in cooperation with GVH and relying on market analyses,
designates the licensees as having signifi cant market power
and imposes special additional obligations adjusted to their
market positions.
HEO regarded the termination and renegotiation of PPAs in
2008 as a signifi cant event from the viewpoint of competition,
therefore decided in September 2009 to launch a new SMP
procedure both on wholesale and on ancillary services.
SECURITY OF SUPPLY
Security of electricity supply
Preparations for winter
HEO assessed the preparedness of licensees participating in
electricity supply and the expected level of security of supply
taking into account the below terms:
a) Implementation of the annual planned maintenances and
developments (plan and fact fi gures),
b) Ensuring fuels required for the production expected in the
winter months, according to fuel types,
c) Availability of reserves specifi ed in GKM Decree 44/2002
(28.12) on the least measure of the stockpile of energy
carriers for power plants of 50 MW or above and on the
order of stockpiling,
d) electric capacity, electricity balance, availability of reserve
capacities,
e) availability of cross-border capacities.
annual report 2009
HEO examined and evaluated the preparations of licensees for
the winter period, and drew the following conclusions:
• The power plants accomplished their winter preparation
programs.
• The power plants accomplished their annual maintenance
programs till 15 November 2009.
• The supply of power plants with fuel is ensured by
contracts.
• All power plants for which the decrees prescribe the fuel
stockpiles possessed the required stock.
Gas restrictions due to the Russian-Ukrainien gas debate in
January 2009 resulted in the fact that power plants suitable
for oil fuelling had to switch to oil fuelling. The majority of
power plants was successful in switching, however, there
were some power plants that experienced technical problems.
In the period of oil fuelling, stocks were decreasing, which
referred to the fact that the oil could not have been replaced
everywhere at due pace. HEO used the experience gained in
the course of switching for the inspections of preparations for
winter.
In the winter period, the capacity balance of the Hungarian
electricity system can be regarded as reassuring if the import
capacities on the northern and eastern borders do not decrease
signifi cantly, and the export on the southern borders do not
increase signifi cantly. In this case, the available capacity is
suffi cient to satisfy the demand, and also the reserve capacity,
which is suffi cient according to the plans, is available. In
the cold winter period, however, natural gas disconnection
may occur in the case of the hydrocarbon fi red power plants,
therefore the cooperation between the MAVIR dispatch centre
and the MOL dispatch centre is a must. Though measures
were taken in order to prevent the coal from being winterkilled,
such an event cannot be fully excluded. A case like this
could hinder the generation of the Mátra Power Plant and a
quick measurement would be necessary to involve reserves.
Network development
The transmission system operator MAVIR Zrt. is responsible
for ensuring the long term and secure availability of the system
with its development, maintenance and operation activities on
the transmission network constituting part of the Hungarian
electricity system, in line with Hungarian and international
requirements and thus providing for the maintenance of the
domestic electricity supply at a European level. Within the
framework of network development:
annual report 2009 | 21