Northern Africa

After closing its first 70 MW tender in early May, and launching the pre-qualification process for a new 500 MW PV tender a week later, the Tunisian government has announced it is tendering a second 70 MW series for solar projects up to 10 MW in size.

Announcement of intent to deploy solar will not supplant the importance of fossil fuels to Algerian economy, states Sonatrach chief

The news comes after Suntech recently announced a separate 116 MW module supply deal, with both orders related to Egypt’s mega Benban complex

Italian developer Enerray is progressing three PV plants in Egypt’s Benban complex. The modules will be supplied by the Chinese manufacturer

The Italian developer said that the sale will enable continuity of its PV business. Funds from the transaction will be used to create a new company which will merge PV operations in Italy with those abroad

Through the tender, the Tunisian government has awarded contracts for six 10 MW and four 1 MW projects. All have received preliminary approval from the Minister of Energy, Mines and Renewable Energies, Khaled Kaddour at the beginning of May.

In a conversation with pv magazine, Mouloud Bakli, president of the Algerian solar energy association, Club Energia (branch of FCE), says that multiple solar pipelines are set to be restarted by the Algerian government. Furthermore, two new tenders, for Independent Power Producer, and solar hybrid power, projects, will be issued by the end of Q2 2018. For all of these plans, local content requirement rules will apply. The existing local PV module industry, on the other hand, is expected to reach a combined annual capacity of 550 MW by the end of the year, while several manufacturers of mounting structures, cables, solar glass and junction boxes are already operating in the market.

The solar PV parks, which will range in size from 1 MW to 10 MW, will sell power to the country’s state-owned utility, Société Tunisienne de l’électricité et du gaz (STEG) under a long-term PPA.

Canadian Solar Inc. has signed an agreement with Global Investment Holdings (GIH) to develop up to 300 MW of solar PV projects in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.