French energy giant TotalEnergies has signed agreements with the Libyan government to develop 500 MW solar PV capacity to be connected to the national grid.
TotalEnergies said it would develop the PV facilities under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with the Libyan national electricity company during the Libya Energy & Economy Summit, the country's 1st economic conference in 10 years. Solar energy produced by the 500 MW capacity will be deployed to power industrial facilities in Waha.
The company has also signed other contracts to reduce gas burning on oil fields to supply gas to power plants, it said.
"Our ambition is to help the country build a more sustainable future by making better use of its natural resources, particularly solar energy, with the direct effect of facilitating the population's access to cleaner, more reliable and more affordable electricity," said Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné.
Recently, Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah heading the country's interim government said Italy's Eni also plans to invest in solar, oil and natural gas sectors here.
A war zone in Africa due to political and military instability, Libya is rich on fossil fuel resources such as oil and natural gas as well as plenty of sunshine – and yet a large chunk of population lives in poverty. Adding to this is an increase in power outages, thanks to ageing infrastructure and lack of funding to improve the same even as electricity demand continues to go up.
At the end of 2020, Libya had 13.727 GW of installed non-renewable power generation capacity that's dominated by oil and gas assets. Among renewables, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the country had only 5 MW renewable energy capacity installed that came from solar energy.
In March 2020, local media reports suggested a 100 MW solar power plant was being constructed by an unidentified Chinese company in Kufra municipality (see 100 MW Solar Plant In Libya Enters Construction).
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