El Hanchi (ANME-Tunisia): “Italy has an important role in North Africa’s energy transition”

Hammamet – “Tunisia is betting on a voluntary energy transition strategy that positions it on ambitious targets in terms of introducing renewable energy into the electricity mix. It represents an extraordinary opportunity for collaboration and international cooperation, particularly with Tunisia’s neighboring countries that are connected both geographically and economically,” said Fethi El Hanchi, director general of ANME (the Tunisian National Agency for Energy Management), during the ongoing MeetMed Week in Hammamet, Tunisia, organized by MEDENER (which has Roberta Boniotti of Enea as secretary general) and ANME in partnership with APRUE (the Algerian National Agency for the Promotion and Rationalization of Energy Use). “Italy could play an important role in the national energy transition strategy, given the trans-Mediterranean gas pipeline and the Elmed project underway,” El Hanchi continues. “These are two aspects, natural gas and electricity,” and Elmed “could also be the tool to promote renewable energy between Africa and Europe. It could improve Africa’s capacity to produce renewable energy.”

For Tunisia, “we target 35 percent renewables in the electricity mix by 2030 or an additional 4,850 megawatts. By 2035, we aim for 50 percent in the electricity mix or 8,350 megawatts,” El Hanchi explains. For the time being, “all these targets are for the local market. As far as exports are concerned, they depend on many other factors, especially Elmed.” It means that “we must have the means to transport electricity and also the capacity to transform the current pipeline into a pipeline capable of transporting hydrogen,” two factors that “will affect the export of energy from Tunisia to Italy.”

“Tunisia is ranked 20th in a list of 133 countries, by the World Bank” for energy efficiency, El Hanchi points out. “This position was assigned because Tunisian policy has been in place since 1985, and these 40 years of existence have fostered the creation of an industrial fabric and services conducive to the development of energy efficiency.” In addition, “these tools will be very useful in helping Tunisian companies decarbonize, especially since Tunisia aims to reduce its carbon intensity by 45 percent, almost half, by 2030, but we have also joined the international ‘zero carbon’ initiative by 2050.” The energy efficiency ecosystem “will help a lot in achieving this goal.”

In the face of global challenges, “it is important that any response be transnational and divided. We are here to discuss this kind of international collaboration and cooperation,” El Hanchi confirms. “At the bilateral level, several countries favor investments and can support Tunisia’s initiatives: with the European Union in general, and with the United Kingdom, but there are also specific programs with countries like Italy and France. These are very supportive projects, especially with the Italian Agency for International Cooperation.” Currently, “we are members of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), a project with $1.5 billion in funding, of which Tunisia has about $200 million in specific funds.”