This summer, in many Tunisian households, the same ritual has repeated itself: watching the clock for the next power cut. Between the heat and the strain on the grid, electricity has become a fickle companion.
A decision has just opened up a new path. In a statement dated Wednesday, July 22, 2026, the Société tunisienne de l'électricité et du gaz (STEG) announced that its residential customers are now officially authorized to install storage batteries for their solar panels, paired with hybrid inverters. In practical terms: a home equipped with solar power will be able to draw on the energy stored in its batteries to keep the lights on, including during load-shedding outages. Here's what this changes, and the precautions to know.
What STEG has authorized
Until now, someone with solar panels could produce electricity but couldn't officially store it for their own use. That's the door STEG is now opening. According to statements reported by Réalités and African Manager, the company describes the measure as “strategic” and frames it as part of its push to encourage investment in renewable energy. It comes as Tunisia is experiencing exceptionally high temperatures and heavy strain on the national electricity grid.
Keeping the lights on when the grid fails
This is the most immediate benefit for households. Thanks to these batteries, an equipped home can keep running on the electricity it has stored itself, including during temporary outages linked to load-shedding on the grid, both sources specify. In other words: sunlight stored during the day can light up the house when the power goes out in the evening. In a summer marked by heatwave episodes and load-shedding, the argument speaks for itself.
A technical framework to follow
This opening comes with rules, and rightly so. STEG has published on its website a technical guide — a detailed document, written in French and running to more than 140 pages according to African Manager — which sets out the conditions and minimum specifications for the design, installation and maintenance of these storage systems. It is aimed at the general public as well as the company's own technical departments and approved installers.
Why so much caution? Because safety is at stake on two fronts, STEG points out: that of its field agents and technicians, who work on the grid during maintenance operations, and that of the home installations themselves. A poorly installed battery is no small matter: it's a risk both for the house and for those working on the lines.
Go for it, yes, but with the right support
For a family considering the move, the steps can be summed up in a few words: consult STEG's guide, and entrust the installation to a professional who follows its specifications. This isn't a trivial expense, and the decision deserves careful thought; but it fits into a broader desire for leaner, more self-sufficient households, akin to the attention to our environmental impact and management of our resources that we've long championed here. Sunshine is in no short supply in Tunisia: learning to keep hold of it is an idea whose time has come.
