Tunisia tenders 210 MW of wind and solar power

The Tunisian government has launched a 210 MW wind and solar tender. The government, through the Department of Energy published an invitation to tender on May 11 with a budget of around TND400 million (US$164.2 million).

Specifically, the tender includes 70 MW of solar capacity and 140 MW of wind. Selected projects will sell electricity to the Tunisia’s state-owned utility Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas (Société Tunisienne de l’électricité et du gaz - STEG) under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).

For the 70 MW of new solar facilities, 10 MW will be assigned to PV projects up to 1 MW, and the remaining 60 MW will be allocated to solar power plants not exceeding 10 MW. The deadline to submit bids is 15 November 2017.

For the wind tender, 120 MW of wind capacity will be assigned for wind projects up to 30 MW, while the remaining 20 MW will be allocated to projects up to 5 MW. The deadline to submit bids for 70 MW of the wind capacity is 15 November 2017, while the deadline for the remaining 70 MW of wind power is 15 August 2018. 

The country has plans to balance its electrical mix by increasing the renewable energy share from 1% now to 30% in 2030. This is expected to be achieved with the installation of 1 GW green capacity in 2017-2020 and 1.25 GW in 2021-2030.

Last February, Tunisia’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Renewable Energies published bidding rules for all future renewable energy tenders.