On 28 August 2026, MEGY Association hosted the Hungarian SusTech multiplier event as part of the Gyüttment Festival in Csobánkapuszta. The “Ökologika Műhely: SusTech OFFGRID professional day” brought 34 participants to the festival’s Builders’ Square for three hours of practical exchange on how a household and family farm can run without any utility connection.
The session was led by Balázs Tőgyi, electrical engineer and founder of Hideg-hegyi Menedék (Cold Hill Shelter), an off-grid family farm and demonstration site on the Pécsely vineyard hill. Drawing on nine years of life without grid power or mains water, he shared both the systems and the mistakes behind them.
The first block focused on solar island systems. The key message: install generous panel capacity, keep battery storage as small as the household can live with, and learn to use energy when the sun shines. Balázs presented a three-tier priority system for consumers, from light and communication to washing machines and well pumps. Guest contributor Norbert Reppert (onellato.com), off-grid installer, added his experience of automating surplus loads.
The second block turned to water and sanitation: sawdust toilets and composting following Prof. József Országh’s water autonomy principles, chemical-free greywater reuse, contour swales, and a complete rainwater harvesting system from gutter to drinking water filter. The festival itself served as a living example, with compost toilets serving around 1000 people.
Questions flowed throughout, and participants shared their own solutions, including the cook who prepares meals for the festival volunteers, who has used a self-built rooftop rainwater filter for 30 years.
The event brought content developed in the SusTech Community of Practice to a wide public audience and provided material for new entries in the SusTech catalog of sustainable technologies.
SusTech is an Erasmus+ small-scale partnership coordinated by GEN Europe with Los Portales (Spain), Sunny Hill (Slovenia) and MEGY (Hungary).
More about the project: SusTech on the GEN Europe website. The first draft of the SusTech catalogue is already online.
#SusTech #GENEurope #ErasmusPlus #offgrid #lowtech #Gyüttment
SusTech. A Community of Practice for Sustainable Technology in Europe (2024-2-DE02-KA210-ADU-000285584). Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.