Investors want to build solar power plants in Tunisia for the United Kingdom

Investors plan to provide 2.5 million homes in the UK with solar energy from Tunisia by 2018. They ask the British government to invest in the solar power stations.

The park is an initiative of British and Tunisian businessmen. They hope to win a contract with the British government to finance their electricity park, the BBC reported on Monday. The investors have already invested ten million euros in the project.

With the project, which is called Tunur, the businessmen are trying to get solar energy from the African country to Great Britain. This is legally possible, as the UK government has allowed renewable energy generated elsewhere to be sold in the UK since this summer. Tunur stems from Desertec, a large-scale solar energy project that was recently terminated. This was partly due to the increase in local wind and solar energy projects.

The Tunisian government is said to have already agreed to the Tunur project. There is also an agreement with an Italian energy supplier. The submarine cable will come ashore in that country, after which the energy will be transported further to England. The electricity farm could supply 2 gigawatts of energy to Great Britain.

It seems that the plan can go ahead, although the British government still wants to be careful. A spokesman for the Department of Energy told the BBC that funding could possibly go ahead if the plan is competitive enough. “This means that UK customers get the best deal. It doesn’t matter where the electricity is generated,” he said. In addition to the solar park in Tunisia, there is currently also a plan to transport electricity generated in Iceland by means of hydroelectric power plants to Great Britain.