To insure transition from natural gas to renewable sources of energy, Tunisia announced it seeks a $7 billion investment. The nation hopes with this investment to generate a third of its power supply from renewables, by 2030.

Energy and mines minister, Mongi Marzouk said the country currently derives 4% of its total power supply, 148 MW, from renewables. Tunisia plans to, by 2030, increase this rate to 30% or 16 GW. For now however, 95% of power supply comes from natural gas. “Tunisia has rich potential for solar and wind plants,” said the minister in an interview at a conference in Berlin where he was discussing ways to draw investment from Europe. 250 German companies including giant Siemens AG were represented at the conference.

It is not the first time that Germans show interest in Tunisia’s power sector. In September 2015, the German development bank KfW said it was offering Tunisia €112 million ($124 million) in loans and non-returnable aid to finance clean energy.

Moreover, Mr. Marzouk provided milestones to achieve Tunisia’s target. He said investment needed in 2015-2020 amounts to $1.6bn of which $685 million for solar (222 MW), $680 million for wind (1.45 GW) and $231 million for biomass (162 MW).

In terms of renewables, Tunisia still lags behind other developing countries such as Morocco. Marzouk explained this in June 2016 indicating that the country does not have as much sun as its neighbor, which is closer the Earth’s equator.