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In 2018, ANME set up the social photovoltaic programme – PVSOCIAL – for households with low electricity consumption.  This was entirely funded by the Energy Transition Fund (Fonds de Transition Energétique – FTE) to the extent of 15 million DT. The programme promotes the widespread domestic installation of photovoltaic solar panels, in contrast with the established PROSOL ELEC’s orientation towards large energy consumers. It is worth noting that low electricity consumption households (less than 1,800 kWh per year) represent around two-thirds of the residential customers of STEG (Société Tunisienne de l'Électricité et du Gaz).

The first phase of the programme consisted of a priority pilot project in the governorate of Tozeur in the southwest of Tunisia, which had the aim of subsequently passing on the lessons learned from the project to the rest of the country. A steering committee and project management group were set up to oversee the pilot project’s development, the objective being to equip 10,000 households with photovoltaic installations. This would have the effect of reducing CO₂ emissions by 1,750 tonnes per year through achieving photovoltaic power generation of 4.7 Gigawatt-hours (GWh) per year.

In 2015, in collaboration with the German Ministry of the Environment, ANME developed Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Measures (NAMA) in the building sector entitled ‘Energy Management in the Tunisian Building Sector’ (‘Maîtrise de l’énergie Dans le Secteur du bâtiment en Tunisie’) to support the following three programmes:

• Photovoltaic Solar Roof Development
• Solar Water Heater Market Development
• The PromoISOL programme for the development of domestic roof insulation.

As part of the promotion of this NAMA, ANME was able to benefit from the financial support of the ‘NAMA Facility’ fund:  ANME’s proposal was one of twelve schemes selected for support out of a total of 75 candidates for international projects. The funding entailed technical support valued at €9.8 million for the three programmes above, as well as financial support of €5.3 million for the ProsolELEC programme. These two grants were agreed in the form of a donation, for the period 2019-2023.

The Target Population

The financial component of the NAMA Facility financed programme aims to encourage households with an electricity consumption of less than 1,800 kWh per year to employ the Prosol ELEC Économique mechanism. It should be noted that this household category does not benefit from the ProsolElec programme. These households represent considerable potential, given that they encompass approximately 1,840,000 households – almost half of STEG’s low-voltage customers.

More than a million of those in the targeted population are in the State’s 1 & 2 Kilovolt-Ampere (kVA) economic tariff band;  the remaining 800,000-plus households belong to the normal band (> 2 kVA).  The former category of consumers is generally those on the most highly subsidized electricity tariffs and belongs to low- and middle-income economic strata. Targeting these socio-economic strata has the benefit of reducing consumers’ energy vulnerability on the one hand, and reducing State subsidies to the electricity sector, on the other.

Financial Mechanism :

The financial mechanism proposed for this programme is similar to that of the existing ProsolElec. This consists of a subsidy granted by the Energy Transition Fund (FTE) together with a bank loan reimbursed by STEG via consumers’ electricity bills. However, economic analysis has shown that it would be impossible to enlist the target population using the same conditions as for the existing ProsolElec mechanism. The following two conditions are necessary for monthly loan repayments to be less than or equal to the reductions on the target households’ bills:

• The loan repayment period needs to be extended to 10 years instead of the current 7 years;
• The interest rate on loans needs to be reduced to 3%.

The potential population for this programme is estimated at around 716,000 households, or nearly 40% of the original target population.

In 2017, in collaboration with the German Development Bank KfW, ANME and the Ministry of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises[n1]  (Ministère de l'Industrie et des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises) jointly undertook a seven-year programme to equip public buildings with photovoltaic installations under the self-generation regime.

With an overall budget of €43M, of which €5M came from the Energy Transition Fund (Fonds de Transition Energétique – FTE) and €1M from ANME, the programme aims to achieve power generation of 30% from renewable sources by 2030, as part of the energy transition strategy.

This would contribute to a reduction in the public energy bill of 20% and of CO₂ emissions by 21,000 tons per year, once the facilities were in operation. To achieve this, the programme aims to increase the renewable energy share of power generation from 3% in 2017 to 30% in 2030, equivalent to expected renewable power generation of around 3,500 Megawatts (MW).

This programme focuses on promoting the use of photovoltaics for power generation in the public sector, given the significant potential this offers.

The first phase of the programme consists of initial research to determine the practical potential for photovoltaic installation in state institutions throughout the country. This research also aims to produce an economic and financial cost-benefit analysis for such installations, from the perspective of the institutions participating in the programme as well as from the Tunisian State’s perspective.