Tunisia launches tender for another 70 MW of solar

Tunisia’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Renewable Energies has kicked-off a third tender for the development and construction of several solar power plants not exceeding 10 MW in size.

Through this third procurement exercise, the Tunisian government is seeking to build six solar power plants with an installed power capacity of 10 MW each and ten 1 MW small solar parks.

The deadline to submit project proposals is November 26 and plants will have to be constructed under the Build Own Operate (BOO) mode. Selected projects will sell electricity to Tunisia’s state-owned utility, Société Tunisienne de l’électricité et du gaz (STEG) under a long-term PPA.

The tender is part of a series planned by the Tunisian government, which aims to install around 1 GW of renewable energy capacity in the period 2017-2020.

Through a first tender of the same kind, which was launched in May 2017, the Tunisian government contracted seven 10 MW projects from domestic companies and Tunisian-international consortia. Construction the first project started in May.

A second tender for another 70 MW of solar was launched last year. In this process, the Tunisian authorities decided on six 10 MW projects proposed by Tunisian and international developers.

The ministry is also preparing to tender another 500 MW of solar for larger projects. So far, it has released a list of 16 prequalified developers. The round will facilitate the construction of a 200 MW solar plant in Tataouine, in the Sahara Desert; two 100 MW PV facilities in Kairouan and Gafsa; and two 50 MW solar parks in Sidi Bouzid and Tozeur.

Under its renewable energy strategy, Tunisia aims to deploy around 4.7 GW of clean energy capacity by 2030.