Three solar power plant projects in Tunisia totaling approximately 360mw have been awarded to Scatec Solar having won an international tender launched by the Tunisian Ministry of Industry and SMEs earlier this year.
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Scatec Solar
“We are excited to have secured our first projects in Tunisia and the opportunity it offers to support the Government’s target to reach 30% electricity production from renewables by 2030. We bring with us solid experience from successful development, execution and operation of projects in Africa and the Middle East over the last several years ”, Raymond Carlsen, CEO of Scatec Solar said.
360mw solar power plants
The solar power plant projects in Tunisia are understood to be of a capacity of 60 MW, 60 MW and 240 MW will have their locations in Tozeur, Sidi Bouzid and Tataouine respectively. The solar power plants will be under a 20 year PPA with Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz (STEG).
The solar plants are expected to generate about 830 GWh per year, enough electricity to power more than 300,000 Tunisian households annually and save 480,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. Scatec Solar will play a leading role as an investor in the projects. The company will also be the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) provider and also provide the Operation & Maintenance as well as Asset Management services to the power plants.
Currently Tunisia meets over 90% of its electricity demand from oil and gas which places a huge burden on its economy. The availability of renewable solar energy from abundant sunlight and the falling price of photovoltaic systems has meant that the government can look towards developing this resource.
This project is one of several initiatives at using private public partnerships to develop solar energy capacity in the country which currently stand at about 35mw. The Tunisian governments strategy is to rump up renewable energy generation to 4.7Gw by 2030.
