- Tunisia’s first floating solar station on Tunis lake has commenced operation.
- Using floating solar panels helps to conserve water resources.
Tunisia’s first floating solar station on Tunis lake has commenced operation. The 200KW project designed by Qair, a french renewable energy company, is expected to serve as a prototype for more significant national solar projects. Tunisia’s neighbour, Morocco, is leading in the region. The country currently produces around a fifth of its electricity from clean sources.
The Executive of Qair, Omar Bey, “The originality of this project means we can use water instead of taking up land that can be used for other things like farming or homes floating solar panels, first of all, allow the reduction of water evaporation when they are installed on a water body”. Using floating solar panels helps to conserve water resources whilst making the meetings more energy efficient. Tunisia set ambitious targets in 2015 for renewables, and last year, green sources accounted for only 2.8 per cent of the country’s energy mix, and natural gas accounted for the rest.
Hassen Amiri, company manager of Sater Solar Energy, said, “We’re blessed with a lot of sunshine in Tunisia, the solar panels have the characteristics, and the sunshine is good, and we can exploit it, so why not let everyone put up solar panels? The field is developing and will keep on doing so”.