The previous 35/22 kV switching station has now been replaced by a 132/22 kV network element, which is significantly more efficient and powerful. The company says it is like replacing a single-lane access road with a multi-lane highway. The result guarantees much greater capacity, more reliable and flexible network operation, greater load capacity and security of supply.

This new “energy highway provides network capacity for up to 1,000 household solar panel systems. It also ensures a lightning-fast and reliable power supply: the new substation provides more stable service to 16,000 customers living in and around Veszprémvarsány, allowing household appliances and electrical devices to operate more reliably. The transformer station is fully automated and remotely controllable, heralding a modern, digital future for network operation.

The investment means new industrial parks and large energy-intensive consumers will also be able to connect to the network in the future without overloading it. The innovative system ensures more stable voltage flow, which is particularly important for modern, sensitive household and industrial equipment. The automated control system enables faults to be identified and rectified more quickly, resulting in shorter power outages.

“Our investment simultaneously serves the development of the region’s population and businesses, as well as the successful connection of renewable energy sources to the grid. As part of the Danube InGrid project, E.ON has implemented a strategic development that will strengthen security of supply in the long term and enable a more reliable, predictable, and flexible energy supply,” said Balázs Lehoczki, CEO of E.ON Észak-Dunántúli Áramhálózati Zrt.

Competitiveness Boost

The network development is also crucial for the country’s competitiveness, and brings Hungary “closer to achieving its ambitious goals of energy sovereignty and carbon neutrality,” according to the government.

“We consider it extremely important that every family should be able to enjoy accessible, clean, smart, and affordable energy. We aim to ensure a competitive and sustainable energy economy, to which the transferred substation contributes not only with its 1.5 times greater capacity, but also through the use of future, greener energy sources, such as those produced by wind farms planned for the wider region. We have already embarked on the path of transformation,” said Deputy State Secretary for Energy Policy Márk Alföldy-Boruss of the Ministry of Energy.

The HUF 2.2 billion investment is part of a series of developments E.ON is implementing until the end of 2025 as part of the Danube InGrid project, a cross-border cooperation supported by the European Union. Two-thirds of the costs were covered by E.ON’s own resources, with one-third coming from the EU.

The facility will be connected to the approximately 64-kilometer-long Kisbér-Veszprémvarsány-Zirc-Litér 132 kV transmission line, which is also being built as part of the Danube InGrid project, as well as to the Kisbér and Zirc transformer stations, the latter of which is currently under construction.

As part of the Danube InGrid project, E.ON is building or expanding 12 substations between 2021 and 2025. Of these, the construction of the greenfield substations in Öttevény, Gyermely, Kisbér, Zalaszentgrót, and Várpalota, as well as the expansion of the Székesfehérvár-Dél substation, has already been completed. Following the completion of work in Veszprémvarsány, the substation supplying the northern area of Szombathely will soon be finished.

This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of October 3, 2025.