Tunisia Implements Many Renewable Energy Projects to Promote Energy System

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Tunisia's GDP ranked 77th in the world in 2009. Since the early 1990s, Tunisia has had a sustained growth in power demand of about 5% per year. This development came from the growth of the production sector, social development (gross per capita income rose from US$2,090 in 2000 to US$3,200 in 2007), and new consumer demands, following the improvement of household living standards and the country's opening to the exterior and enhanced infrastructure.

To meet this demand, Tunisia has sought to diversify and secure its energy supply. Tunisia has introduced its energy policy with several objectives, the most important of which is the promotion of energy efficiency by controlling energy use, the development of new and renewable energy, and protecting the environment.

The energy balance for Tunisia showed equilibrium between demand and energy supply until 2003; from 2004 to 2008, the demand increased by 150%, and hydrocarbon resources were insufficient to cover demand. Some improvement was seen in 2007 because of the discovery of the Ouanda oil field.

To implement a renewable energy policy, several regulations have been issued:

• The recently revised energy efficiency law N72-2004 allows companies to produce electricity from renewable energy for their own consumption.
• A decree about sale and transport conditions of electricity produced from renewable energy, concerning the national grid and the sale of the surplus to the Société Tunisienne de l'Electricité et du Gaz (STEG) by a maximum of 30%.
• A decree on the amounts of subsidies given by the National Fund for the energy efficiency, including a 20% to 30% of heater price for solar heating systems; 40% of the investment for electricity production and water pumping in agricultural fields for hybrid-system photovoltaic and wind energy; 40% of the investment for the production of biogas; 20% of the investment for the production of biogas to convert into electricity; and 30% of the investment for electricity production in buildings.

Some of these projects in the renewable energy plan already are on land, and others are still under development:

1. Photovoltaic
• Projects completed in 2008:
• Electrification of 12,344 rural houses
• Electrification of 200 primary schools
• 90 wells for water pumping
• Photovoltaic water-desalination station in the south
• Under development:
• Electrification of 1,700 rural houses with photovoltaic
• Electrification of 1,000 rural houses with hybrid systems
• Providing 100 farms with hybrid systems (photovoltaic-wind)
• 63 pumps with photovoltaic for water pumping and desalination in rural areas
2. Wind Energy
• Projects completed in 2008:
• Setup of 55 MW of wind turbines
• Completion of the wind-Atlas: a global wind map to approximately
• determine the wind potential of all the Tunisian territory
• Under development projects:
• Installation of 2 MW by STEG
• 60 MW installed by the private sector
• Hybrid systems in rural farms

The United Nations Development Program stated that Tunisia's consumption of electricity has been growing at 6.2% per year, from 8,560 gigawatts (GWh) in 1998 to 11,560 GWh in 2003. Tunisia's power sector has responded by increasing its power generation capabilities from 2,020 megawatts (MW) in 1998 to 3,150 MW today. Tunisia will need to increase its total generation capacity to 4,160 MW by 2011 to keep up with demand.

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