Tunisia: The "TuNur" project stalled
11 June 2012
Read by 1526 persons
Arguments were unconvincing. Ms. Noura Laroussi Ben Lazreg, Director General of ANME (National Energy Efficiency Agency), and Mr. Khaled Kaddour, Director General of Energy, failed to justify the government's delay in granting a license to the largest solar energy project in Tunisia's history.
The government, judging by its actions, prefers to go into debt rather than welcome foreign investors who focus on job creation, added value, and enhancing Tunisia's image as a solar energy exporter.
The TuNur project aligns with this "irrational" economic policy that emphasizes state monopoly over energy projects. Bureaucratic and legal procedures complicate matters and increasingly slow down the process.
This is a stalled 2 GW integrated solar energy export megaproject, connecting the sunny desert of Rgime Maatoug, in the Kebelli governorate, to European electricity markets. The project is led by TuNur Ltd., a North-South joint venture, equally partnered between a British solar energy company, Nur Energie Ltd., and a group of Tunisian entrepreneurs led by Top Oilfield Services Group and Glory Clean Energy.
The TuNur project was approved by the DESERTEC foundation on January 24, 2012. This foundation evaluated TuNur's development work and confirmed that it meets the principles they established for sustainable Desertec projects.
"With 600 km of submarine cables connecting Tunisia and Italy, TuNur will provide large-scale renewable electricity to Europe, approximately 700,000 European households in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, and England, at competitive prices," confirms Mr. Till Stenzel, CEO of TuNer.
Mr. Stenzel also states that the project's study period began in 2009 with a total estimated cost of around 10 billion euros, or 20 billion dinars. This enormous amount will be injected into the national economy and will provide approximately 1,500 jobs at the construction site starting in 2014, 500 direct jobs in operating the unit, and approximately 20,000 jobs in the supply chain – project suppliers, equipment manufacturers, and on-site subcontractors. Added to this is the creation of know-how and intellectual property made in Tunisia. TuNur also plans to create partnerships with Tunisian universities and research institutes.
To date, the project initiators are awaiting government approval to begin the engineering phase (2012-2014), construction (2014-2020). Electricity exports will begin in 2016, if the license is granted on schedule," adds Mr. Stenzel.
Here we are faced with a willingness to invest and a willingness to block. The officials mentioned below justify this delay with the following reasons:
The lack of a legal framework for this type of project, the establishment of a commission to evaluate the project, agreement from the Ministry of Energy, agreement from the Ministry of Defense, consultation with Europeans to verify the project's feasibility...and the list goes on!
For the record, once validated, TuNur will be the second largest international solar energy project after the United States project with a capacity of 40 GW.
Yacine Ben Chikha
Investir-en-tunisie.net
Published June 8, 2012.
Online June 11, 2012.
The government, judging by its actions, prefers to go into debt rather than welcome foreign investors who focus on job creation, added value, and enhancing Tunisia's image as a solar energy exporter.
The TuNur project aligns with this "irrational" economic policy that emphasizes state monopoly over energy projects. Bureaucratic and legal procedures complicate matters and increasingly slow down the process.
This is a stalled 2 GW integrated solar energy export megaproject, connecting the sunny desert of Rgime Maatoug, in the Kebelli governorate, to European electricity markets. The project is led by TuNur Ltd., a North-South joint venture, equally partnered between a British solar energy company, Nur Energie Ltd., and a group of Tunisian entrepreneurs led by Top Oilfield Services Group and Glory Clean Energy.
The TuNur project was approved by the DESERTEC foundation on January 24, 2012. This foundation evaluated TuNur's development work and confirmed that it meets the principles they established for sustainable Desertec projects.
"With 600 km of submarine cables connecting Tunisia and Italy, TuNur will provide large-scale renewable electricity to Europe, approximately 700,000 European households in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, and England, at competitive prices," confirms Mr. Till Stenzel, CEO of TuNer.
Mr. Stenzel also states that the project's study period began in 2009 with a total estimated cost of around 10 billion euros, or 20 billion dinars. This enormous amount will be injected into the national economy and will provide approximately 1,500 jobs at the construction site starting in 2014, 500 direct jobs in operating the unit, and approximately 20,000 jobs in the supply chain – project suppliers, equipment manufacturers, and on-site subcontractors. Added to this is the creation of know-how and intellectual property made in Tunisia. TuNur also plans to create partnerships with Tunisian universities and research institutes.
To date, the project initiators are awaiting government approval to begin the engineering phase (2012-2014), construction (2014-2020). Electricity exports will begin in 2016, if the license is granted on schedule," adds Mr. Stenzel.
Here we are faced with a willingness to invest and a willingness to block. The officials mentioned below justify this delay with the following reasons:
The lack of a legal framework for this type of project, the establishment of a commission to evaluate the project, agreement from the Ministry of Energy, agreement from the Ministry of Defense, consultation with Europeans to verify the project's feasibility...and the list goes on!
For the record, once validated, TuNur will be the second largest international solar energy project after the United States project with a capacity of 40 GW.
Yacine Ben Chikha
Investir-en-tunisie.net
Published June 8, 2012.
Online June 11, 2012.
