Tunisia
Why Tunisia?
Nur Energie has studied in depth the possible inter-connection opportunities between North Africa and Europe. Technological, economic, political and financial factors were reviewed to identify the optimal inter-connection route for a first commercial solar export project. From a wide range of North African and Southern European countries, Nur Energie has decided to focus on an inter-connection between Tunisia and Italy, as Tunisia is one of the most open countries to do business in North Africa and has a good solar resource in the Southern regions of the country, while Italy has long experience in electricity imports, including through sub-marine cable links.
Nur Energie aims to use concentrating solar thermal technology for its solar plants, focusing particularly on so-called “solar towers”. This technology has several advantages over “trough” technology for operations in hot desert environments:
- Lower investment costs as these plants use standardized industrial components like steel tubes and flat-glass mirrors
- The production of higher-temperature and higher-pressured steam allow the electricity turbine to operate on higher efficiency
- No water requirements for cooling, reducing water requirements by >90%
The Tunisia export project will employ HVDC cable technology to transport electricity to European electricity markets. The advantage of HVDC is the ability to transmit large amounts of power over long distances with lower capital costs and lower losses than alternating current (AC) technology. Depending on voltage level and construction details, losses are quoted as about 3% per 1000 km. See graph below.
Nur Energie has been planning an integrated solution for a solar export plant, including the production of clean energy in the Tunisian desert, as well as the electricity cable that will deliver solar electricity from Tunisia to Europe. Nur Energie will provide updates on its projects as new developments occur.
Market Opportunity for solar export projects
The EU is firmly committed to renewable energy and specific support schemes for various technologies such as wind energy and solar have expanded in recent years. The EU has a firm obligation in place to source 20% of its energy supply from renewable sources by 2020. This translates into a target of 34% of all electricity to be sourced from renewables by 2020. The Figure below shows that many countries in the EU are still far behind their target.
Nur Energie believes that the fundamentals supporting a continued EU renewable energy policy are secure over the medium to long term. The key issues that maintain the momentum behind these initiatives are:
- Energy Security: The EU will be over 70% import dependent on gas and over 90% import dependent on oil on current trends by 2020(1).
- Climate Change and Environmental Protection: The EU has set itself a binding target of lowering CO2 emissions by 20% by 2020, to which each member state must contribute.
- Job Creation: Renewable Energy is the fastest growing sector in the energy industry with a high domestic value-add in the supply chain.
The most recent Renewables Directive 2009/28/EC of 23 April 2009 reinforced the binding nature of the renewable energy targets for each EU member state. Furthermore, the Directive allows renewable electricity from non-member states to be imported and count towards EU member states' renewables targets, provided that a direct physical link exists between the exporting and the importing countries, and such electricity consequently becomes eligible for the renewable energy support schemes of the EU. Trading mechanisms put in place by the Directive, allow electricity imported into the EU to be traded amongst EU countries and subsequently to count towards other member states' renewables targets. This means that electricity exported to countries like Italy can count towards the renewables target of any EU country, greatly opening the market for its consumption.
(1) Europe’s Energy Position – Present and Future, 2008, Luxembourg: European Commission
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