The award to Italian oil and gas giant Eni, together with Tunisian state firm Etap, of a provisional contract to build, own and operate a 10MW solar park at Tataouine in southeast Tunisia (MEES, 1 June) is the first concrete result of a November 2016 “cooperation agreement for the development of projects generating energy from renewable sources… [whilst] also targeting the optimization of oil sites’ energy resources,” Eni said in a press release.

MEES was not the only observer to be skeptical at the time of such announcements, given that they were high on platitudes and low on specifics. (CONTINUED - 779 WORDS)