Tunisia

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.

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 a new large scale solar tender, the Tunisian government intends to build five solar parks across several regions. Developers are now invited to submit pre-qualification requests.

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.

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.

The announcement was made by Prime Minister Youssef Chahed. The tender is set to be published on April 27.

The U.S. President’s proclamation provides a path for specific products to apply for exemption from tariffs, which had been sought by both SunPower and the government of South Korea. Additionally, imports from a number of developing nations are exempt as long as import levels remain small.

The new 150 MW solar module manufacturing facility will be located in Kairouan and will enable the company to reach a total production capacity of 200 MW.

The recently tendered project will be financed by German development bank, KFW and will be located in Tozeur, where STEG is now building its first PV plant.

The funds will be used by local state-owned utility STEG to support the deployment of 85 MW of new residential PV capacity across the Northern African country.