The Tunisian Ministry of Industry has just published an announcement extending the deadline for tenders for the construction of 70 megawatts of solar projects and 130 megawatts of wind projects. Interested parties have until 18 December 2018 to submit their applications.
Although the reasons for this additional postponement remain unclear, it is nevertheless noted that this is the second postponement carried out by the Tunisian Ministry of Industry, Small and Medium Enterprises, within the framework of this public contract. It comes after the previous deadline of October 18, 2018, which was also an extension of the original date of August 15, 2018.
As for solar energy, the capacity of the project for which tenders are being issued is divided into two distinct categories: the first category applies to six projects with a maximum capacity of 10 megawatts, for a total capacity of 60 megawatts, and the second category, for a total capacity of 10 megawatts, is for ten projects with a maximum capacity of 1 megawatt.
As far as wind power is concerned, there are four projects of 30 megawatts, for a total capacity of 120 megawatts, and two projects of 5 megawatts each.
The electricity produced by these power plants will be sold to the Tunisian Electricity and Gas Company (Steg). The Ministry indicated that interested proponents are invited to submit a pre-qualification offer. Bids will be evaluated on the basis of the promoters’ experience in the development, financing, construction and operation under concession of similar projects.
Target: 30% of its electricity from renewable energies by 2030
In the wake of the launch of these tenders in July 2018, Tunisia had launched other tenders two months earlier for 500 megawatts of solar energy and 500 megawatts of wind energy, because the North African country wants to produce 30% of its electricity from renewable energies by 2030. The objective will be achieved by adding 1 GW of capacity for the period 2017-2020 and 1.25 GW for the period 2021-2030.
Boris Ngounou