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The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), in partnership with the European Union (EU) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), is supporting Tunisia’s renewable energy ambitions with a €61.3 million loan to the Scatec-Aeolus joint venture for the construction of a 100 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in the Sidi Bouzid region. The plant will be built by Scatec Khobna PV Power, a special-purpose vehicle established in Tunisia.
This investment will support Tunisia’s energy security and resilience, helping to diversify its energy mix and reducing its reliance on natural gas. Once it is operational, the plant is expected to generate an average of 252 GWh of renewable electricity annually, cutting annual CO₂ emissions by an average of 107,000 tonnes over its lifetime. The investment will also support private-sector participation in the country through the development of a large‑scale privately financed renewable energy project.
The EBRD’s financing package will be supported by a first-loss guarantee under the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+), while the EIB’s participation will be covered by the Connectivity Component of the EFSD+ Open Architecture Guarantee Agreement.
The project will also benefit from €5
5 million of grant funding from the EU’s Neighbourhood Investment Platform (NIP), which will be used to co‑finance the associated transmission infrastructure. This forms part of a broader €35.8 million EU Global Gateway package supporting renewable energy investments in Tunisia.
The project forms part of the 1.7 GW concession programme that Tunisia launched in 2022, helping the country to achieve its goal of deriving 35 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030.
Harry Boyd-Carpenter, Managing Director of the EBRD’s Sustainable Infrastructure Group, said: “We are delighted to be partnering once again with Scatec and Aeolus, two of the most dynamic and rigorous investors in this sector, to finance this important project. This is also a great Team Europe effort, where we are partnering with our co-lender, the EIB, and benefiting from generous donor support from the European Union to support the development of clean and very low-cost energy in Tunisia. These benefits are even more important in the current circumstances, where we are seeing challenges to energy security. The success of this project is also a tribute to the Tunisian government’s determined efforts to push forward with an ambitious energy reform and transition agenda.”
EIB Vice-President Ioannis Tsakiris said: “This project marks an important step in supporting Tunisia’s efforts to deliver affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to its citizens, in line with the country’s national objectives. Through EIB Global and the Team Europe approach, we are working with our partners to scale up renewable energy investment and strengthen the infrastructure needed for a more secure and resilient energy system.”
Giuseppe Perrone, EU Ambassador to Tunisia, said: “In the spirit of the EU-Tunisia memorandum of understanding on energy of June 2024, the European Union is taking concrete action in the renewable energy sector to ensure Tunisia’s energy security and decarbonisation, in line with the T‑MED programme launched by Commissioner Suica on 9 June 2026 during European Sustainable Energy Week.”
The financing will be complemented by an EBRD technical cooperation package funded by the EBRD’s Shareholder Special Fund to support capacity-building activities addressing emerging workforce needs in the energy sector, with a focus on the Sidi Bouzid and Gabès regions. The activities will include community awareness campaigns in Khobna and Mezzouna on gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) and care-related benefits, aimed at encouraging higher levels of female labour-force participation in the sector.
EFSD+ was established in June 2021, offering EU partner countries assistance with key investments through grants or financial guarantees. In this way, the EU mobilises additional financial resources for sustainable development from the public and private sectors. EFSD+ has a total global guarantee capacity of €39.8 billion for the period from 2021 to 2027, of which €22.5 billion will be used in the EU’s enlargement and neighbourhood regions. EFSD+ is a key tool for implementing the EU’s Global Gateway strategy.
Since 2012, the EBRD has invested more than €3 billion in 90 projects across Tunisia and provided support to around 2,000 local small and medium-sized enterprises through EU-funded technical assistance.