Tunisia launches 500 MW solar tender

The Tunisian Ministry of Mines and Energy has issued a 500 MW tender for solar energy projects, executing plans that had been announced during previous weeks.

Through the new tender, the Tunisian government hopes to build a 200 MW solar plant in the province of Tatouine, in the Sahara Desert, two 100 MW PV facilities in the provinces of Kaiouran and Gafsca, and two more 50 MW solar parks in the provinces of Sidi Bouzid and Tozeur.

All of the projects will be developed under the Build Own Operate (BOO) model. Interested developers and investors are now asked to submit pre-qualification applications.

The launch of the tender, which is part of a plan to add 1 GW of renewable energy capacity (including another 500 MW of wind) in the North African country, comes a week after the closing of a 70 MW solar tender, the winners of which were announced at the beginning of May.

Selected developers under the 70 MW tender were mostly local players or Tunisian-international consortia. Overall, six 10 MW solar parks and four 1 MW PV facilities were selected in the round. All of the solar parks will provide electricity to state-owned utility, Société Tunisienne de l’électricité et du gaz (STEG) under a long-term PPA.

Tunisia's renewable energy strategy is targeting to deploy around 4.7 GW of clean energy capacity by 2030.