Feasibility study for a wind park from large industrial energy consumers in Tunisia
Client
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Agence Nationale pour la Maîtrise de l'Energie - ANME
Background
Tunisia has hardly any fossil fuels and therefore relies more and more on renewable energy. For large energy consumers, it is possible to generate renewable energy for self-generation and feed the surplus. As a pilot project under the national solar plan, large industrial consumers shall build a 60 or 120 MW wind farm. This is the first private wind power generation project in the private sector in Tunisia.
Objective
The feasibility study is to analyze the conditions for such a wind farm in the private sector and possibly identify eventual necessary improvements. In addition to the technical and economic feasibility the funding possibilities will be investigated.
Results
Focus of the study were:
- Analysis of wind atlas to identify 3 potential sites
- Comparison of the three sites
- Design and detailed yield calculation for the selected location
- Definition of investment costs incl. grid connection
- Detailed calculation of profitability
- Analysis of financing options.
The conditions allow for a joint project of several companies. Some interpretations’ details are to be clarified in the regulatory framework. The feasibility study shows an attractive return. Compared to electricity purchases from the national supplier STEG, the dynamic generation costs are about 16% lower. A project financing appears possible. Funding will be significantly cheaper if the state would permit the use of partial guarantee schemes of international financing institutions. A large interest was found for the project at the financing institutions. The next steps in the project development have been identified and the interest of private developers and sponsors such as Siemens was awakened.