The Tunisian government has issued the fifth call for expressions of interest to set up 70 MW of solar power plants. The Tunisian Ministry of Energy, Mines and Renewable Energies plans to develop six solar plants through the latest procurement round with capacities of 10 MW each. These will be in addition to 10 smaller solar plants, each having a capacity of 1 MW in size.
The Tunisian Electricity and Gas Company will sign long-term 20-year power purchase agreements with the selected companies. The deadline for submission of expressions of interest by independent power producers is March 21, 2021.
This tender is part of Tunisia’s large-scale plan to expand its renewable capacity. Four tenders under this initiative have already been issues. The first round was finalised in May 2017 under which seven projects of 10 MW each were allocated. A second tender for 70 MW was launched in 2019 and included six 10 MW projects which were proposed by Tunisian and international developers. The third and fourth rounds were issued in July 2019 and September 2020, respectively.
Tunisia also concluded a 500 MW solar tender in December 2019. Norwegian developer Scatec Solar was the biggest winner won the largest capacity. Scatec will take up the responsibility for developing three solar power plants for a total capacity of 360 MWp in Tozeur (60 MWp), Sidi Bouzid (60 MWp) and Tataouine (240 MWp).
