TUNISIA – The government of Tunisia has approved a concession and power purchase agreement with AMEA Power for the 100MW solar energy project in Kairouan.
The approval and signing of the power purchase agreement took place at a ceremony at the government headquarters in Al Qasba.
The solar project will be built under a consortium that includes a Chinese company, TBEA Xinjiang New Energy Co., Ltd.
The AMEA Power-led consortium was awarded the project in December 2019 as part of the first round of solar projects under the concession regime.
“Through the government’s 2030 New Energy Vision, Tunisia aims to increase the share of renewables in its energy mix to 30% by 2030,” said AMEA Power’s Chairman, Hussain Al Nowais.
“AMEA Power is proud to be able to support Tunisia in achieving this grand vision, and to contribute to reducing the country’s carbon footprint.”
The construction of the solar power plant is expected to begin by the end of this year and has a planned electricity production of nearly 223,171 MWh per year, saving more than 113,525 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions on an annual basis.
The North African country has plans to shift overreliance on gas energy to renewable energies as the continent shifts towards green energy.
Tunisia mostly relies on gas imports from Algeria to meet its energy needs, almost 97% of its electricity in 2016 came from gas.
The country’s energy policy though does emphasize renewable energy and wind power has strongly increased into the energy mix since 2014.
Approximately 3% of Tunisia’s electricity is generated from renewables which include hydroelectric, solar, and wind energy.
A 2015 energy law does encourage IPPs in the area of renewable energy technology and 17 solar IPPs and two wind projects have been awarded since 2017.
Tunisia’s state-owned national electricity and gas utility company STEG produces and distributes electricity and is the sole off-taker of private renewable energy in the country.
The North African country has about 400MW of the installed renewable energy capacity of which 244 MW is wind power, 89 MW solar power, and 62 MW of hydroelectric power.
Renewable energy in the country represents a combined 6% of national energy production capacity.
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