Tunisia procures renewable generation through two different routes. Both were created by Loi n° 2015-12 of 11 May 2015, and both end in total and exclusive sale of the output to STEG. They are frequently described in the same breath as the Tunisian IPP programme. They are not the same procurement, and the distinction determines who your counterparty is, how you are selected, what you sign, and how long approval takes.
What decides which regime applies
The dividing line is installed capacity, set by decree. Below the threshold a project falls under the authorisation regime; above it, the project can only be awarded as a concession.
The authorisation regime is itself split in two. Category A covers solar projects between 1 and 10 MW, and wind between 5 and 30 MW. Category B covers solar at or below 1 MW and wind at or below 5 MW. The category governs how heavy the submission file is, not the commercial principle.
How you are selected
This is the substantive difference, and it is procedural rather than technical.
Under the authorisation regime, capacity is awarded through a call for projects issued against the annual notice in which the Ministry states national renewable generation requirements. The file is reviewed by the CTER, the technical commission for private renewable generation, and the authorisation is granted by the Minister responsible for energy and published in the JORT. A developer brings its own site.
Under the concession regime, the State is the originating party. A concessionaire can be selected only through a tender, which may be open or restricted and is typically preceded by a prequalification stage on technical and financial references. Selection is then made on price alongside technical and financial requirements, under a build-own-operate structure.
What you sign, and who has to approve it
Under the authorisation regime the developer ends up holding a ministerial authorisation and a power purchase agreement with STEG. Under a concession the package is heavier: a concession agreement concluded between the Ministry and the project company, a PPA with STEG running for the concession term, and, where the site sits on State land, a land occupation agreement with the public body holding it.
The step with no counterpart on the authorisation side is parliamentary. Concession agreements are submitted to a special commission of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, and the agreements enter into force only after the approval law is promulgated in the JORT. For anyone building a bid programme, that is the item most likely to move the schedule, and it is outside the control of every party to the transaction.
Who carries site and permitting risk
This is where the two routes diverge commercially, and it is frequently misread from outside the country.
Under the authorisation regime the developer sources the site and carries the full pre-development chain: land control, land vocation attestation, non-objection where the parcel is agricultural, the preliminary STEG connection study, environmental impact assessment, building permit. Under a concession on a State-selected site, several of those steps do not apply to the bidder at all, because the State has already secured the land. Where a concession site is proposed by the developer instead, the pre-development chain reappears in full.
In other words, a concession is not simply a larger authorisation. It can carry materially less land risk, and materially more approval risk.
What this means for lenders
Concession-scale projects are financed by international lenders, and the diligence architecture follows: a lender technical advisor at appraisal, independent verification of the yield assessment, and certification of construction progress against drawdown. Authorisation-scale projects are more often financed by Tunisian banks, where the same functions exist in compressed form and the independent engineer role is contractual rather than imposed by a regulator.
The technical question a bidder should ask early is not which regime is more favourable, but which one the project already falls into, because capacity decides that before any commercial judgement is made.
What has changed since the framework was written
The Ministry guide that codified these procedures was published in May 2019, at a point when no renewable project had yet been awarded under the concession regime. That is no longer the position. The concession rounds have since delivered operating capacity at Tozeur, Sidi Bouzid and Menzel Habib, and tender AO 01-2026 at Bazma extends the model to generation combined with battery storage.
Two cautions follow. Tariffs and round-specific conditions are set by ministerial order and by each tender file, and they change. And each concession tender may add obligations, or grant exemptions, that are not in the general framework at all. The regime tells you the shape of the process; the cahier des charges tells you the terms.
Sources
Loi n° 2015-12 of 11 May 2015 on electricity production from renewable energies; Décret n° 1123 of 24 August 2016; Loi n° 1996-27 and its implementing decree n° 1996-1125 on independent production; Manuel de procédures, Ministry responsible for Energy; Projets d energie renouvelable en Tunisie — Guide détaillé, Ministry responsible for Energy, May 2019.
AIUS acts as local partner to international developers, EPC contractors and consulting engineers bidding in Tunisia, and as independent engineer to lenders financing solar projects. If you are assessing which route a project falls under, we are available to discuss it.
