During the month of July, Rev’ACTE project, promoting a network of Tunisian cities allied for climate and energy transition, finalised its activities. The network mobilised 7 cities in activities of capacity building in order to promote energy transition in 4 different areas: sustainable urban mobility, diversification of energy sources, energy autoproduction and public lighting efficiency.

During the last months of the project, the project finalised it support to the members through the transposition of tools for municipal energy actions and targeted technical assistance:

Pre-feasibility study for a medium-voltage photovoltaic plant project: Rev’ACTE supported the municipality of Tunis in setting up a photovoltaic (PV) self-production plant to cover the energy consumption of its most energy-consuming equipment. Technical support was given to the municipality to structure its project and carry out a technical and economic pre-feasibility study to define the capacity of the plant, the list of equipment to be connected, the place of production, and the installation diagram. A list of 18 establishments, to be covered by the future PV plant, was defined and analysed in terms of electricity supply network and photovoltaic production potential of each establishment. An analysis of the establishments’ electricity consumption was carried out based on the energy data collected (electricity bills, load curves, etc.). Several possible production sites proposed by the municipality were visited in order to check the conditions for setting up a photovoltaic plant connected to the network. On this basis, a first proposal for the choice of site and power of the plant was submitted and validated by the energy commission of the municipality of Tunis. The capacity should reach a capacity of 1.5 MWp which would constitute the largest photovoltaic installation project set up by a Tunisian municipality. In order to carry out this support, Rev’ACTE adapted the ToRs established and made available by the municipality of Sfax, proving the importance of the exchange of experiences.
« Carbon offset » bonus granted to a member of the network: Rigorous monitoring of network emissions (particularly related to road and air travel) was carried out throughout the life of the project. The network’s emissions have been estimated at nearly 19 t-eq CO2 – were offset by the delivery of a carbon credit of EUR 8,000 to a municipal initiative. A call for projects was launched among all member cities. The chosen project is that of the city of Nabeul to replace the gas water heating system with solar water heaters in its municipal sports facility.
Other important accomplishments of the project include the development of an e-procedure platform, which allows supporting municipal officials who struggle to understand and access certain administrative procedures necessary for carrying out their energy projects. In response, an online platform was created on the ACTE program site to facilitate administrative procedures for municipalities. Rev’ACTE supported the mapping of the procedures for « on-plan audits » and « photovoltaic self-production ». Through this platform, the municipalities have access to a clear and exhaustive description of all the steps to take in order to successfully carry out their projects.

Furthermore, in order to enhance knowledge production, Rev’ACTE project prepared three educational video clips, aimed at technical managers and municipal officials and cover the following themes, prioritized by member municipalities

· « How to proceed to modernize your public lighting network? »
· « How to set up a photovoltaic installation intended for self-consumption? »
· « How to optimize the management of your fleet? »

These videos describe step-by-step all the key stages on each theme and present the best practices carried out by Tunisian municipalities in this area.

In parallel, the project mapped some interesting projects and tools implemented by Tunisian municipalities and made them available in a specialised Rev’ACTE section of MedUrbanTools platform. The section will be soon updated with all videos and results produced by the project.

Lastly, the last months of the project were also dedicated to preparing the sustainability strategy of the network. In this regard, a survey was conducted among the member cities and partners of the network, serving as a basis for the development of several alternatives for the future functioning of the network. Several scenarios were produced for analysis and discussion. Several donors such as SECO, GIZ and ADEME have acknowledged the importance of a continued support to the network, which could be opened to new members and technical partners.