Tunisia’s photo voltaic ambitions, by Aïda Delpuech & Arianna Poletti (Le Monde diplomatique

we within the Tunisian Sahara, on the best way to Rjim Maatoug. On the Algerian border, oil tankers connecting the assorted deposits within the area cross continuously. Under army rule because the Nineteen Eighties, this palm-fringed lunar panorama could quickly commerce its black gold for the promise of inexperienced vitality. The Tunisian-British partnership TuNur hopes to construct one of many world’s largest thermodynamic photo voltaic vegetation right here, on collective lands that had been as soon as house to nomadic teams.

‘Wind and photo voltaic vitality are limitless, and Tunisia has each in abundance,’ says the corporate, whose aim is to supply 4.5 GWh of electrical energy for export to Italy, France and Malta. The megaproject, thought of unrealistic by some observers, may get a lift from the present vitality disaster. When the conflict in Ukraine began two years in the past, European vitality markets out of the blue needed to restructure; the southern Mediterranean, close by and wealthy in sources, started to draw.

Countries like Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia are jockeying to change into the subsequent vitality hub. And whereas the disaster has introduced North African international locations like Algeria many suitors, pure fuel will not be the one draw. With continued excessive oil costs and growing provide challenges, Europe is pragmatically making an attempt to speed up its transition to cheaper renewables – by way of outsourcing. It seeks ample daylight from its southern Mediterranean neighbors whose photo voltaic potential is likely one of the highest on the earth.

‘Africa will certainly change into Europe’s most necessary associate within the growth of renewable vitality,’ predicted Frans Timmermans, former European Commissioner for Climate Action, on the January 2023 convention of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi. His assertion echoed the commitments made as a part of the European Green Deal that was accomplished in 2020. Late final 12 months, through the COP28 in Dubai, Maroš Šefčovič, government vice-president of the European Commission for the European Green Deal, introduced in an funding of greater than $21.5bn in (…)

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