Tunisia’s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Renewable Energies has launched two new tenders to deploy 1 GW of PV capacity.

In the first procurement exercise, the Tunisian authorities are seeking proposals to build eight solar plants with capacities of 100 MW. Developers will be responsible for identifying and securing land for the projects.

The tender will be held across four different rounds. The deadline to submit project proposals for the first round has been set for June 15, 2023. For the fourth and final round, the submission date has been set for an unspecified date in September 2025.

In the second tender, the Tunisian government wants to facilitate the construction of two 100 MW solar plants in Hecha, in Gabes governorate, and Khobna, in Sidi Bouzid governorate.

Interested developers will until May 18 to submit their proposals. The government did not reveal any other details about the procurement exercises. The selected projects will likely sell electricity to Société tunisienne de l’électricité et du gaz (STEG), the Tunisian state-owned grid operator, under long-term power purchase agreements.

Tunisia is supporting utility-scale solar through a series of 70 MW tenders. It also finalized a 500 MW solar tender in December 2019. The country's cumulative installed PV capacity stood at just 95 MW by the end of 2021,, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).