Tunisia - Two agreements were signed on Wednesday at the Kasbah Palace between the Tunisian government and the Norwegian and Japanese renewable energy companies "Scatec" and "Aelous" for the construction of solar power plants in Sidi Bouzid and Tozeur.

The agreements were signed on the Tunisian side by Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, Fatma Chiboub, and Minister of State Property and Land Affairs, Wajdi Hedhili, together with representatives from Norway and Japan and the CEOs of the two companies that won the tenders for the solar park projects.

The groundbreaking ceremony for these stations is scheduled for Thursday, and they are expected to be operational by 2025. Each station is expected to have a power generation capacity of 50 megawatts, at a total cost of €79 million (approximately 260.7 million Tunisian dinars).

Secretary of State for Energy Transition Wael Chouchane said during the event that these agreements are the culmination of years of efforts by various stakeholders, despite challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

He stressed that the energy transition remains a priority, noting that Tunisia has a strategy to generate 35% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 50% by 2050. The country also plans to reduce its carbon intensity by 46%.

Chouchane also announced that three tenders have been launched for the installation of 1,700 megawatts under the 2024-2027 concession.

"As of June 2024, the integration rate of renewable energy has reached 5.6%. The delay in the implementation of renewable energy can be bridged to reach an integration rate of 35% by 2030."

The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy had launched an international tender in 2018 for the installation of 500 megawatts of solar photovoltaic energy on state-proposed sites in Sidi Bouzid (50 megawatts), Tozeur (50 megawatts), Kairouan (100 megawatts), Gafsa (100 megawatts) and Tataouine (200 megawatts).

These five projects are scheduled to become operational in the second half of 2025 and 2026.

As part of the national renewable energy development programme, the Ministry of Industry also launched tenders at the end of 2022 for the installation of 1,700 megawatts over the period 2024-2026. This includes 800 megawatts of solar power, 600 megawatts of wind power on sites proposed by investors and 300 megawatts of solar power on state-proposed sites in Sidi Bouzid and Gabes.

Nine bids were approved on May 30, 2024 for the first phase of these projects, comprising the installation of 200 megawatts on sites proposed by investors and 300 megawatts on sites selected by the state, and the technical evaluation phase is currently underway.

Tenders for the second phase of the 200 megawatt solar project and the first phase of the 150 megawatt wind project will be launched before the end of the year.

© Tap 2022 Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).