Credit goes to KfW
A new solar power plant comes into operation in Tunisia. The Tozeur II solar park was recently inaugurated in the presence of the Tunisian authorities, as well as officials from the Société tunisienne d’électricité et de gaz (Steg) and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). The German development agency is the financial partner of the project with a loan of 11.5 million euros.
Only 8 million euros of this funding was finally used for the construction of the plant. The rest of the money should, according to KfW, support the installation of a battery storage system to optimise the production of the Tozeur II solar power plant. The facility, which has a capacity of 10 MWp, was built by Steg following Tozeur I, which has the same capacity.
“Tozeur I and Tozeur II were the first large-scale photovoltaic plants in Tunisia to come on stream and supply the Tunisian electricity grid with green electricity. We are proud to have accompanied our partners, the Ministry of Energy and Steg, in the realisation of this important step of the energy transition in Tunisia”, says Thorsten Schneider, KfW’s Director of Energy in North Africa.
The two solar power plants were built under the Tunisian Solar Plan (PST). Implemented by successive governments in Tunisia since 2012, this programme aims at the large-scale development of renewable energy. The TSP is also consistent with Tunisia’s climate commitments. At the 2021 Glasgow Climate Change Conference (COP26), Tunisia committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by 2030, compared to 2010.
In line with this commitment contained in its updated 2021 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), the North African country aims, through the TSP, to produce 1,860 MW of clean energy by 2023 and 3,815 MW by 2030. Currently, Tunisia relies on gas for 97% of its electricity production, according to the National Agency for Energy Management (ANME). Tunis is also relying on independent power producers (IPPs) to implement its Tunisian solar plan.
TunisianMonitorOnline
