UAE-based renewables developer Amea Power has achieved financial close on its planned USD 86 mn, 100 MW PV plant in Tunisia’s Kairouan, according to a company statement. The company expects to break ground on the project between December of this year and January 2024, Amea Power’s Senior Director of Business Development Hussein Matar told Enterprise Climate, and is looking to fully kick off operation on the solar farm by the summer of 2025.

The details: Amea Power has secured funding for the project, which will have a 120 MW peak production capacity and be built under a build, own, operate model, from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the African Development Bank (AFDB). The IFC will extend green loans to the Emirati firm totalling USD 26 mn, of which USD 13 mn will be in the form of concessional financing, and the AfDB has similarly committed to providing USD 26 mn for the plant. The project is expected to generate some 222 GWh of clean energy annually, powering some 43k households in the country, and offsetting an estimated 100k tons of CO2 annually once fully operational, the statement notes. Once operational, it is set to be the largest solar plant in the country, according to Amea Chairman Hussein Al Nowais.

What they said: The multilateral lenders are financing the project in a bid to upscale Tunisia’s climate adaptation efforts and help wean it off of fossil fuel imports, they said, noting that it is one of the world's most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change. “This new project in Tunisia aligns with IFC's strategy to increase access to clean energy and support cross-border investments from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to emerging markets,” the lender notes.

Background: Tunisia awarded the Kairouan PV plant to a consortium that includes AMEA Power and Chinese energy solutions provider TBEA Xinjiang New Energy Company earlier in 2019. AMEA Power was then awarded a concession and power purchase agreement in March 2022, and construction on the plant was set to begin at the end of 2022.

Tunisia has big solar ambitions: Tunisia has set a national strategy to develop solar plants with a combined capacity of 500 MW across the country, with a target to have clean energy sources comprise 35% of its electricity mix by 2030, and its unconditional emissions reduction target to slash 27% — 35 mn tons of CO2 —- by 2030 compared to 2010 levels, and ultimately become carbon-neutral by 2050. As part of the strategy, Tunisia is looking to build a 200 MW plant in Tataouine, a 100 MW plant in Gafsa, and two 50 MW plants in Tozeur and Sidi Bouzid. Amea Power — which has been making strides in the regional clean energy sector — plans to participate in future tender projects in the country, Matar told us.