As Malta is amping up its renewable energy efforts, the Mediterranean country has sent a delegation to Tunisia in order to explore partnerships to create new investment opportunities and increase trade.
The group was composed of 15 Maltese businessmen from different sectors, with focus on different industries including renewable energy. The Mediterranean country previously mandated that it would incorporate 10% of renewable energy into its grid by 2020, but recently, the government said that it was in no position to meet that target. Malta was scheduled to finalize a draft of its National Renewable Action Plan on June 30 in Brussels.
However, a recent study concluded by the German Fraunhofer Institute Systems and Innovation Research found that Malta has the ability to surpass its 10% goal meeting 12% of its energy needs via renewable energy sources. Several projects are ongoing in the country now, including the early stages of construction for its first offshore wind farm.
Tunisia, on the other hand, received a $55 million loan from the World Bank to increase its activity in the renewable energy sector (Tunisia, World Bank Sign $55M Deal for RE). The National Energy Control Agency (NECA) Director General Ben Aissa Ayadi said that Tunisia was planning to increase its renewable energy generation from 0.8% in 2009 to 4.3% by 2014. Last April, Tunisia launched a four-year energy-saving program to reduce energy demand 20% by 2011. The National Agency of Energy Conservation director Mounir Bahri said the plan aims to reduce energy consumption by 3% each year (Tunisia Launches Energy Saving Program).
Other countries are also recognizing the cost efficiency of producing RE in North Africa as Italy and Tunisia teamed up in April to establish a technological platform to spread renewable energy in Tunisia and the rest of North Africa. The African continent will be connected within the European electrical connection network through the underwater electric connection set up between Tunisia and Sicily, to be set up by the Italian company Terna (Tunisia, Italy Agree on New Green Energy Platform). Tunisia and Algeria are also working together as the Tunisian-Algerian High Joint committee is working on increasing efforts between the two countries in sectors like energy, human resources, and renewable energy, to name a few (Tunisia, Algeria Ramp Up RE Efforts).
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