Tunisia gets $268.4 million loan from World Bank to finance power connection project

The World Bank Thursday approved a $268.4 million loan to Tunisia earmarked for financing electricity connection with Italy, State-run news agency TAP reports.

The electrical interconnection project known as ELMED is set to provide a 230 km-long 600MW connection to Italy’s Sicily.

ELMED will produce a quantum leap in the integration of the electricity markets on the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean. The project is developed by the Italian utility Terna and the Tunisian grid operator STEG. The loan follows that of the European Union (EU) which awarded last December €308 million in funding for the project.

The World Bank which is arranging the financing for the project, said in 2019 that ELMED was being planned to respond to rising electricity demand in Tunisia.

The multilateral lender added that the project will also contribute to achieving Tunisia’s renewables development by providing access to large back-up power capacity which will ease the integration of intermittent solar and wind energy into the Tunisian grid.