A memorandum of understanding on cooperation in renewables was signed Thursday in Tunis by the Photovoltaics Association coming under the Tunisian Confederation of Trade, Industry and Handicrafts (French: UTICA) and the German Solar Industry Association (BSW).
The memorandum was signed on the sidelines of the 10th Tunisian-German Energy Day. The event was held by the Secretariat of the Tunisian-German Energy Partnership – implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) – under the theme “The Green Decade – The Road to 2030.”
The MoU is intended to boost cooperation between the private sectors in the two countries in the area of solar energy.
President of the Photovoltaics Association Ali Kanzari said cooperation established with the BSW in March 2016 helped upgrade professional structures, put in place high quality and technology standards in the Tunisian solar market and create a strong commercial network involving the Tunisian and German solar industries.
Furthering cooperation will help build local capacities in the solar industry, establish a mutually recognised framework for training and certificates, develop lobbying to improve regulatory and financial frameworks and technical reference systems.
The new memorandum is also aimed to establish partnerships in a bid to contribute to the implementation of structural projects, such as smart cities in Tunisia, and the transfer of knowledge. by organising fairs and workshops in the two countries. .
Positioning Tunisia on the global energy stage//
“The tendency now is no longer to increase primary resources but rather to develop renewable energies to ensure energy security,” Director-General of Electricity and Energy Transition at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy Belhassen Chiboub told attendees of this 10th edition.
The national energy management strategy rests on increasing energy efficiency and developing renewables with a 30/30 target: that is bringing primary energy demand down (-30%) and attaining a 30% share of renewable energy in electricity generation by 2030.
“Today, the installed renewable energy capacity in Tunisia represents only 3% of electricity production but it is expected to rise to 12% by 2023/2024 with the planned entry into operation of some projects. We are still far from achieving the objectives set for 2030, in particular because of difficulties at the start of the process.”
The real challenge is positioning Tunisia amid major global energy trends, in particular electric mobility and the production of green hydrogen, he said. Studies are launched to identify the potential of Tunisia and mechanisms and means to deploy to fit within these trends.
The other challenge facing Tunisia is the post-2030 and means to be deployed so as to increase the share of renewables in the electricity mix to 50% and even 80% by 2050, the official further said.
Director-General of the National Agency for Energy Command Fathi Hanchi said Tunisia managed to cut its primary energy consumption by 11% between 2010 and 2020 (a 30% target in 2030), i.e. 8 million tonnes of energy saved for a value of 5 billion dinars.
Attending German officials reiterated their country’s readiness to support Tunisia’s energy transition and stressed the need to remove red tape.
Source: Tap News Agency