All five offers received by the Tunisian government were under the three-cent threshold. The lowest bid was for a 200 MW solar plant Norwegian developer Scatec intends to build in the Tataouine province. Under its renewable energy strategy, Tunisia is aiming for 4.7 GW of renewable energy generation capacity by 2030. Image: Keith Roper/Flickr Tunisia’s Ministry for Energy, Mines and Renewable Energy has received five bids for the 500 MW solar tender it launched in November. Mehdi Majoul, an advisor to the ministry, wrote on his LinkedIn social media account that the bids, submitted by unspecified leading international solar companies, all offered record low energy prices for the Tunisian market, according to the tender’s preliminary results. Majoul added, the lowest bid – millimes 71.800/kWh ($0.0244) – was for a 200 MW project in the province of Tataouine. Two 50 MW projects, in the provinces of Sidi Bouzid and Tozeur, attracted offers of millimes 79.300/kWh ($0.027), according to the advisor, and the two remaining 100 MW projects – in the provinces of Gafsa and Kairouan – prompted bids of millimes 79.900/kWh ($0.0272) and millimes 84.100/kWh ($0.0286), respectively. “Notably, the tariff tendered by the company Scatec Solar for [the] Tataouine project, namely $0.0244 per kilowatt hour, is the lowest bid ever recorded in Africa and is among the lowest in the world,” wrote Majoul. “The prices proposed under this tender will help bring down the cost of production of electricity nationwide and reduce the bill for energy subsidies in addition to lowering national imports of natural gas by 5%. These projects will start operating from 2021.” The Tunisian government had pre-qualified 16 developers for the tender. Among them were European energy giants Enel, Engie, Total and EDF – the latter in a consortium with UAE-based Masdar and Japan’s Mitsui. Other bidders included Canadian Solar; Spanish developers Acciona and Fotowatio; French concerns GreenYellow, Akuo and Voltalia; Norway’s Scatec; Saudi power company ACWA; and China’s TBEA. Tunisia is also supporting large scale solar through smaller, 70 MW tenders. Those, however, only permit domestic companies to compete. Emiliano joined pv magazine in March 2017. He has been reporting on solar and renewable energy since 2009. More articles from Emiliano Bellini
A Tataouine-based, 200 MW solar project, part of a 500 MW tender launched in November, has generated Africa's lowest-ever bid of TND7.18/kWh ($0.0244), according to Tunisia's Ministry for Energy, Mines and Renewable Energy. Ministry advisor Mehdi Majoul wrote in a blog post that Scatec Solar was behind the bid, among the world's lowest, while the auction's four other participants all submitted offers below $0.03. Majoul said the low prices would reduce national electricity production costs and subsidies, and cut natural gas imports by 5%.