LIBYA, (The Southern African Times) – Libya has granted authorization to Dublin-based independent power producer company, AG Energy, to build a 200 megawatts solar power plant in Ghadames city, southwest of the country.
The license was issued by Libya’s Privatization and Investment Board (PIB), founded to promote foreign and national capital to set up investment projects.
It also supervises and implements the process necessary for the success of the investment projects in accordance with Law (No.9) and its executive regulation for promoting investment in Libya.
The project for the construction of the solar power plant in Ghadames is the first investment in the field of solar energy production in Libya by the private sector.
It came following a meeting held in Tripoli between the PIB and General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL) at the latter’s headquarters.
In the meeting, the two parties agreed to form a joint working group that would supervise the implementation of the electricity sector plan.
The plan will cover the needs of conventional or renewable energies to be financed by the local and foreign private sector, between the years 2025 and 2030.
They also agreed to represent GECOL in the PIB’s investor services department Unified (one-stop) Window that includes several government departments, in a bid to ease the investment process for investors.
The North African country aims to have 10% of renewable energy by 2025 coming from wind, concentrated solar power, photovoltaic and solar water heating.
As a result of the civil war and political instability that followed the fall of former President Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, Libya has lagged far behind in terms of attracting renewable energy investment, compared with its neighbors.
Recently there has been increased interest from foreign investors in the country’s renewable energy potential.
This is the case of TotalEnergies, which wants to develop a solar capacity of 500 MWp over the next few years.
The French oil group should invest through Total Eren, its subsidiary dedicated to the production of renewable energy.
It is hoped that the presence of GECOL at the one-stop window would make it easier for local and foreign private investors to venture into the energy sector in Libya.
