STEG imposes rotating power cuts as the heatwave drives demand to 5,000 MW

STEG chief executive Fayçal Trifa said afternoon consumption had reached about 5,000 MW, roughly 30 percent above normal, as an exceptional heatwave sent air-conditioning use soaring; not resorting to load-shedding when it is needed, he warned, could bring about a complete collapse of the grid, and he pointed to Spain's nationwide blackout of 2025 as the scenario being avoided. A technical fault at Sidi Okba in Algeria has at the same time cut into the electricity Tunisia imports from its neighbour. Almost all Tunisian generation is gas-fired and investment in new capacity has stalled, so each summer peak now translates directly into outages for which the government pays the political price.

← See the full edition