UAE’s Amea Power commissions Tunisia’s largest solar plant

Dubai-headquartered renewable energy developer Amea Power has commissioned a 120 MW solar power plant in Tunisia, marking the largest solar project ever brought online in the country and a key milestone in its energy transition, Al Arabiya Business reported on December 17.

The project is located in the Kairouan governorate in northeastern Tunisia and is expected to produce around 222GW/hours of electricity annually, enough to supply approximately 43,000 households. It is Tunisia’s first solar plant with a capacity exceeding 100MW and the first to be developed under the country’s concession regime, a legal framework designed to attract large-scale private investment into the renewable energy sector.

Construction of the plant began in May 2024, following the signing of a 20-year power purchase agreement with Tunisia’s state-owned electricity and gas utility, Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz (STEG), in June 2021. The agreement was ratified by the Tunisian government in 2022, enabling the project to reach financial close and proceed to commercial operation.

Amea Power said the facility also sets several technical precedents. It is the first renewable energy project in Tunisia to include an integrated substation using a loop-in/loop-out configuration, and the first to inject electricity directly into STEG’s 225 kilovolt high-voltage transmission network.

The project was financed by the International Finance Corporation and the African Development Bank (AfDB). Amea Power chairman Hussain Al Nowais said the solar plant strengthens Tunisia’s energy security and indicates the company’s long-term commitment to the country’s renewable energy development.

According to the Africa Solar Industry Association, Tunisia currently has about 729 MW of operational solar capacity. With Amea Power’s project now online, the country is moving closer to the 1GW benchmark.