- Tunisia has qualified 16 IPP’s from a total of 38.
- The 16 IPP’s will bid on 5 identified solar Pv projects ranging from 50Mw to 200Mw.
- Successful bidders will be awarded long term PPA contracts.
Tunisia’s Ministry for Energy, Mines and Renewable Energy has released a shortlist of 16 pre-qualified developers for solar PV projects totaling 500 MW from 38 initial submissions . The projects will range from 50 MW to 200 MW in size and will be developed on a build to own and operate (BOO) concession basis. Successful bidders will be awarded long term PPA contracts.
The announcement follows a request for bid tender qualification which was launched earlier this year in May which was made alongside 500Mw of wind power RFI. The program is broken down into 5 Pv projects in different locations around the country; 200Mw in the province of Tatouine, two 100 MW PV facilities are planned for the provinces of Kaiouran and Gafsca, while two smaller, 50 MW parks, are set for the provinces of Sidi Bouzid and Tozeur.
Among the pre-qualified bidders are European energy giants Enel, Engie, Total and EDF (in consortium with UAE-based Masdar and Japan’s Mitsui), in addition to Chinese manufacturer Canadian Solar, Spanish developers Acciona and Fotowatio, French developers GreenYellow, Akuo and Voltalia, Norway’s Scatec, Saudi power company ACWA, and China’s TBEA.
Tunisia’s renewable energy strategy has a target of 4.7 GW of clean energy capacity installed by 2030. The qualified bidder’s announcement indicates that the country has the ability to attract interest from large established international Independent Power Producers on the back of revised legal policy and an updated government backed financial security framework.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
