Hungary extends deadline for troubled EU-funded residential solar scheme

The Hungarian government has extended the deadline for completing projects under its EU-funded residential solar program to Oct. 31, and will allow complex projects to close with reduced technical content.

Government Resolution 1318/2026, published on Sept. 29, applies to the RRF-6.2.1-2021 call, which supports residential PV systems and the electrification of household heating systems combined with PV. Under the resolution, complex projects can be closed if at least two of the development elements set out in the call have been completed.

The government instructed the minister responsible for rural and settlement development to amend the call accordingly.

Program design

The program opened in December 2021 and is financed through the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). It is separate from the Napenergia Plusz Program, a residential PV-plus-storage scheme Hungary launched in 2024. The RRF program offers non-refundable grants covering 100% of costs for households with below-average incomes, of up to HUF 2.9 million ($8,870) for PV-only systems and up to HUF 11.3 million for complex projects.

Complex projects combine PV with measures such as battery storage, heat pumps or other electric heating, and window or door replacement. Registered contractors carry out the work and receive the subsidy directly.

The program received 33,700 applications, including withdrawals, according to figures from the Hungarian Solar and Solar Collector Association (MNNSZ) reported by Telex in June. About 23,000 projects had been formally closed at that point and nearly HUF 117 billion had been paid out, including advances, leaving about 10,000 projects open.

Rolling delays

Projects originally had to be finished by June 15. That deadline was moved to the end of September before the latest extension.

The association has attributed the delays to contractor bankruptcies, approval requirements for changing contractors, and the transfer of program administration from ÉMI Nonprofit to the National Development Centre (NFK) at the end of 2025, which stalled processing for about two months, according to Hungarian media reports. Households whose contractors failed often could not switch until the original contractor had repaid advance payments.

László Szilágyi, deputy president of the association, told Hungarian media in June that several government decisions affecting the solar sector had “decimated the market since 2022.” Hungary banned grid feed-in from new household PV systems in late 2022 and later ended annual net metering for new installations.

In September, Szilágyi reportedly said that “the subsidy was received not by the families, but by the contractors.” The association warned that affected households faced unfinished systems, demands to repay advances drawn by contractors and, in some cases, the dismantling of their systems.

EU timing

The new completion date is later than the deadlines set under the RRF. EU rules required milestones and targets to be met by Aug. 31, 2026, and final payment requests to be submitted by Sept. 30, with payments due by the end of the year. The European Commission has said actions taken after Aug. 31 cannot be taken into account when it assesses payment requests.

The resolution does not say how projects completed after the RRF deadline, or closed with reduced scope, will be financed, and it is not yet clear whether they will count toward Hungary’s RRF payments.

Hungary added about 1.1 GW of solar in 2025, down from 1.4 GW in 2024, according to the Hungarian Photovoltaic Industry Association (MANAP). Installations below 50 kW fell to 207 MW from 362 MW the year before. In February, the government opened a separate HUF 100 billion program offering households grants of up to HUF 2.5 million for battery systems of at least 10 kWh.

The post appeared first on pv magazine Global.