Renewable Energy Tunisia turns to waste to tackle power supply gap By Nadim Kawach January 29, 2025, 6:05 PM Alamy via Reuters Tunisia wants to tackle its power supply gap through more waste to energy projects, increased reliance on solar and wind power, and the launch of hydrogen production projects Power production deficit Greater focus on bio-gas Hydrogen production launch Tunisia needs to encourage investment in waste-to-energy projects in order to tackle a massive power supply gap of nearly 60 percent, an energy official was reported on Wednesday as saying. Incentives for such projects include the purchase of their production by the state-owned Tunisian Electricity and Gas Company, said Wael Chouchane, secretary of state for energy transition at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy. Chouchane was quoted by Alshuruq newspaper and other Tunisian publications as telling a local seminar on Tuesday that bio-gas should be one of the main sources to tackle the power shortage. Tunisia should also slash electricity imports, mostly from Algeria, he said. He said that bio-gas, a renewable energy source produced from raw materials, provides only around 5 percent of Tunisia power consumption. “We need to devise a plan to incentivise investors and industrialists to invest in waste-to-energy projects to better utilise waste in Tunisia. We need to bridge the power production deficit, which reached nearly 60 percent in 2019,” Chouchane said. “I believe that the next step we should take is to prepare that plan and present it to the cabinet for approval. It will then be presented to the president for final endorsement. The plan must include procedures to facilitate investment in such projects, which will allow the government to resolve this uncomfortable power gap.” Tunisia’s tough decisions: to reform or face debt default Tunisia signs green hydrogen deals to step up production Tunisia signs $6.5bn green hydrogen investment deal In late 2004, the Tunisian Electricity Ministry said it has plans to allocate around 7.1 billion Tunisian dinars ($2.2 billion) for the development of the power sector in 2025. The ministry said in a report that the aim is to expand reliance on solar and wind power to 35 percent in the next six years and slash electricity imports from Algeria and Libya. The expectation is that solar and wind energy projects will enable Tunisia to produce nearly 4,850 megawatts (MW) of green electricity by 2030. According to the report, the ministry’s target is to expand the use of renewable energy sources to 30 percent of the total energy mix by 2030. Tunisia has also announced its intention to launch its first hydrogen production projects starting in the South-Eastern Gabès Governorate in 2030. Chouchane said in late 2024 that Gabès has been identified as a “pivotal point” in this strategy due to its proximity to production sites and its commercial port, offering a practical connection to European markets. Since publishing its national hydrogen strategy in 2023, Tunisia has signed several major agreements with industrial players such as TotalEnergies and Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power. These partnerships aim to develop the necessary infrastructure for hydrogen production and export of up to 6 million tonnes annually by 2050. Tunisia’s economy has been struggling in recent years. Gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 1.5 percent in real terms between 2019 and 2023. The World Bank in January forecast that Tunisia’s economy would grow by 2.2 percent in 2025 and 2.3 percent in 2026. While growth is returning, Tunisia still has a debt load equal to roughly 80 percent of its annual GDP. It must pay off 9 billion Tunisian dinars in debts in the first quarter of 2025, including 5.1 billion Tunisian dinars in foreign debt.