Tunisia greenlights 500 MW of solar

Tunisia's Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, Fatima Al-Thabat Shibb, has approved four solar projects with a combined capacity of 500 MW.

France-based Qair International will build a 100 MW facility in the Kasr region of Gafsa province and a 200 MW project in the Al-Khabna region of Sidi Bouzid Governorate. French developer Voltalia will construct a 100 MW solar farm in Gabès province. A consortium of Norway’s Scatec and Japan’s Aeolus, a unit of Toyota Tsusho, will develop a 100 MW PV plant near Mazouna in Sidi Bouzid Governorate.

“These projects are expected to come into operation starting in 2027 and will be able to produce about 1,100 GWh per year, equivalent to 5% of the national electricity production and an economy of about 250 thousand tons of natural gas, worth about $125 million per year,” the ministry said in a statement.

The projects were selected under a 1.7 GW renewable energy tender. The ministry said the lowest awarded rate was $0.03183/kWh.

Tunisia is advancing utility-scale solar through a series of tenders, including the latest procurement round launched in January 2023. It previously completed a 500 MW solar tender in December 2019.

In October 2024, Tunisia launched a new tender for 200 MW of large-scale solar, with submissions due by Jan. 15, 2025.

Tunisia’s total solar capacity reached 506 MW by the end of 2023, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).