2023-07-07 06:47:05
Good news for companies that want to invest in renewable energies and reduce their carbon footprints: the “Power Tunisia” program has just opened its doors to SMEs that want to initiate their energy transitions. Funded by the US government, through the United States Agency for International Development (Usaid), “Power Tunisia” is a new five-year program designed to support the green transition of the Tunisian private sector.
A seminar was organized on Wednesday, July 5 in Tunis, to present the mechanisms and operating methods of this new program. Present at the opening of the event, the United States Ambassador, Joey Hood, emphasized the key role that the private sector plays in the development of renewable energies and the energy transition in a way general.
Citing the success of the American experience in the field of energy, which enabled the country to recover, in the space of two decades, its energy independence, Ambassador Hood underlined the strategic importance of the energy transition . “We want to help Tunisia to be more independent when it comes to producing its energy,” he said.
Craig Vandevelde, project manager of “Power Tunisia”, underlined, for his part, the essential role played by NGOs, financial institutions, experts, associations, international donors and development banks in meeting the energy and environmental challenges of the region. Tunisia. He added, in this sense, that the program is committed to fostering strong partnerships and harnessing collective efforts to generate lasting change in the energy sector.
Indeed, “Power Tunisia” aims to support nearly 2,000 Tunisian companies and mobilize 40 million US dollars for investments in clean energy and energy efficiency projects. Ultimately, it should increase Tunisia’s clean energy production capacity by 70 megawatts, thereby reducing dependence on fossil fuels and creating new green jobs.
Three forms of support
Concretely, the support provided by the “Power Tunisia” program comes in three forms. First of all, there is the subsidy program which is designed in concert with commercial banks and micro-finance institutions, and which will make it possible to finance green projects, the amount of which is less than 20 thousand dollars via loans that will be granted to SMEs. For medium-scale projects (the amount of which is between 20 thousand and 2 million dollars), Power Tunisia offers technical assistance, including energy audits, cost-benefit analyses… and at the same time donations of equipment that can reach 10% of the project value.
The third type of subsidy concerns projects whose amount exceeds 2 million dollars and consists of technical assistance in terms of, in particular, project design, mobilization of capital and pre-feasibility studies.
“We counted a lot on this program”
For the president of the FTH, Dora Milad, this program comes at the right time, since it offers hoteliers the opportunity to become more involved in the energy transition, in a context marked by the resumption of tourist activity. “Many have already done it. The number of eco-certified hotels continues to grow.
It has become a marketing and commercial imperative and we are obliged, if we want to continue to be present and competitive, to commit to this green energy transition, ”she said.
According to Milad, the technical assistance provided under the “Power Tunisia” program will help hotel establishments to face the financing difficulties that they often encounter when they intend to undertake green projects. “You have to have the possibility of having access to experts who advise you and that is what “Power Tunisia” will do. The program will already provide us with experts who will be able to carry out energy audits. There will also be technical support so that the investment is really optimal, because sometimes we spend a lot and we are disappointed with the results. We have a lot of hope that this program will help us move forward a little faster in the energy transition of the sector”.
Same story with Abdellatif Hamouda, president of the group of renewable energy producers under the Conect, who said that financing remains the stumbling block on which the energy transition in Tunisia stumbles.
According to him, it is particularly bank financing that is struggling. “The energy transition in Tunisia is stalling because we have a funding problem. Banks are still reticent about these green projects. The “Power Tunisia” program will help us overcome these difficulties,” he said.
For his part, the technical director of renewable energies at “Power Tunisia”, Walid Bessrour, emphasized Tunisia’s dependence on Algerian gas, since 70% of the gas used to produce electricity is imported from Algeria.
For the speaker, renewable energies constitute an opportunity for Tunisia, given the availability of significant natural resources, but also the maturity of the technologies commercialized on the market. “The costs of producing electricity from renewable energies are falling and remain lower (without subsidies) than the costs of production from natural gas (with subsidies),” he said.
During the seminar, partnership agreements were signed with representatives of the National Photovoltaic Trade Union Chamber (Cspv) under the Tunisian Union of Industry, Commerce and Crafts (Utica) and the group “The Tunisia Green Building Council” (Tgbc). It should be noted that companies interested in this program can submit their applications via the portal of the “Power Tunisia” website.
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