Economic observatory: the blackouts come from an investment collapse, not the heatwave
In an analysis published on 31 July (Datanalysis no. 34), the Tunisian Economic Observatory shows that Steg's investment in electricity generation fell from 1,947 million dinars over 2016-2020 to 248 million over 2021-2025, an average drop of 87 percent, while net installed capacity was divided by 3.2. Peak demand meanwhile rose an average 3.8 percent a year, hitting a record 4,888 MW on 14 August 2024. Roughly 870 MW of fully tendered Steg projects, the Skhira combined-cycle plant (500 MW), the Jbel Tbaga wind farm (80 MW) and six photovoltaic plants totalling 300 MW: have been stalled since 2018 awaiting sign-off from the energy ministry, Steg's supervising authority under the 2005 and 2016 decrees. The finding shifts responsibility for the summer's rolling cuts away from the weather and away from the utility, onto government choices that the observatory says favoured private and foreign renewables investment over the public grid.