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Tunisian sunshine could soon be powering homes in the UK if an ambitious North African project gets the green light.

The TuNur project aims to power up to 2.5 million UK homes by 2018 using solar energy captured in the vast Tunisian plains.

Its investors have already spent £8 million ($12.9 million) on their project, which they claim will provide energy that is 20 per cent cheaper than other sources.

Tunisian sunshine could soon be powering homes in the UK if an ambitious North African project gets the green light. The TuNur project (pictured) aims to power up to 2.5 million UK homes by 2018 using solar energy captured in the vast Tunisian plains

TuNur, a partnership between British renewables investor Low Carbon, developer Nur Energy, and Tunisian investors, has gathered three years of solar data from their site in Kebili Governorate.

They are now seeking approval from the UK government, who has recently allowed non-UK developers of renewable energy projects to bid for contracts that guarantee subsidies.

'This is not a back-of-the-envelope fantasy,' Kevin Sara, chief executive of TuNur told Matt McGrath at BBC News.

'We are working with some of the largest engineering firms in the world. This is a serious project. Yes, it is risky like any big energy project is risky.'

The TuNur project will work with concentrated solar power (CSP) technology which uses thousands of mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a central point. Electricity is generated when the concentrated light is converted to heat, which drives a heat engine connected to an electrical power generator

The TuNur project will work with concentrated solar power (CSP) technology which uses thousands of mirrors to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a central point.

Electricity is generated when the concentrated light is converted to heat, which drives a heat engine connected to an electrical power generator.

The plan involves building an undersea cable to Italy to connect to the European grid. 

But earlier this year, industry analysts warned that northern African states carried significant political risks.

TuNur was an associate member of a separate solar project, Desertec which last week announced that it had all but folded.

The project aimed to help to provide up to 15 per cent of Europe's power from solar and wind parks in North Africa and the Middle East by 2050.

Desertec said that only three of its 19 existing shareholders had decided to stay on board: Saudi Arabia's ACWA Power, Germany's RWE and China's State Grid.

They have decided to continue the project in an 'adapted format', Desertec said, adding that it would now function as a service company in the Middle East and North Africa.

TuNur, a partnership between British renewables investor Low Carbon, developer Nur Energy, and Tunisian investors, has gathered three years of solar data from their site in Kebili Governorate. The plan involves building an undersea cable to Italy to connect to the European grid

'Costs were very high and some companies said we're not that interested in the Middle East and North Africa,' Desertec Chief Executive Paul van Son told journalists, trying to explain why so many shareholders had left.

Desertec's aim was to capitalise on the desert sun, which it estimated could provide more power in six hours than mankind could use in a year.

Spread over a 6,500 square mile area more than half the size of Belgium, Desertec's projected delivery of more than 1 terawatt hours (TWh) would have been almost enough energy to power the whole of Germany for two years.

Also, Europe has had its own solar power boom, raising questions about the need for imports.

As a result, a number of major shareholders had already left the project in the past few years, including Siemens, Bosch, E.ON and Bilfinger.