PROSOL Tertiary

PROSOL Tertiary is a program that was launched in 2009 by the Tunisian government, after the success of PROSOL Residential program. This program, having ANME as a team leader, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, the STEG, the Tunisian Company of Bank (STB) as national members and MEDREC, UNEP-DTIE, and IMELS as International Partners, aims to promote the solar thermal use in the tertiary sector, mainly in hotels.

• Start year : 2009
• Duration : 6 years
• Total budget : 1 million euro

After the success of PROSOL Residential program, the Tunisian government launched in 2009, a program for the development of solar thermal use in the tertiary sector to implement approximately 30,000 m² of collectors during the period 2010-2016 with a budget of 1 million euro mainly for hotels; known that the solar energy could cover 70% of the hotel needs (heating water, cooling and heating);

ANME as the team leader, the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, the STEG, the Tunisian Company of Bank (STB) as national members and MEDREC, UNEP-DTIE, and IMELS as International Partners were involved in this program.

The funding mechanism implemented in the PROSOL program was applied following the overview diagnosis of the situation which reveals that the lack of bonuses granted by the National Fund for Energy Conservation (20% of the investment with a ceiling of 100 USD / m²) and the burden of the initial investments require the need to increase the level of subsidy to boost this niche. The initial proposal of the financial mechanism developed in 2006 jointly by UNEP and the ANME is to give tangible and intangible premiums:

• A grant of 50% (technical and economic feasibility, design, support, and control) with an upper limit of 5000 DT on the resources of Italian funds through UNEP;
• A grant of 30% of the investment cost with a maximum of 150 DT / m² from FNME resources;
• A surcharge of 10% with a maximum of 50 DT / m² from Italian funds resources through UNEP;
• Subsidy costs of maintenance over 4 years regardless of the year warranty;
• A bonus of 2 points in the interest rate on loans granted by commercial banks to the benefit of hoteliers.