Tunisia is turning to home energy storage as a punishing heat wave pushes electricity use to record highs and exposes the limits of the national grid.
The new approval could give some households and businesses a way to keep the power on when demand-driven outages hit.
What's happening?
According to ESS News, STEG, Tunisia's state utility, has cleared low-voltage customers, including homes and businesses, to use battery storage together with hybrid inverters.
The policy arrives as extreme heat drives up electricity use across the country. Broad reliance on air conditioning has added major stress to the grid, contributing to repeated outages and prompting STEG to ask consumers to cut back on power consumption.
The authorization means people who already have solar panels can draw on stored electricity to run their homes during short, planned outages known as load-shedding.
Alongside the approval, STEG published a technical guide that sets basic requirements for how battery-equipped solar systems with hybrid inverters are designed, installed, run, and maintained. It's meant for residential customers, STEG technical staff, and certified installers.
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Why does it matter?
For families and small businesses, battery storage paired with rooftop solar can help keep lights, fans, refrigeration, internet service, and other essentials running during short grid disruptions.
During dangerous heat, losing electricity can quickly become a health and safety risk. Air conditioners and fans are needed most at the moment the grid is under the greatest strain.
Hotter weather can drive electricity demand higher, especially when cooling systems run around the clock. When grids are stretched too thin, blackouts become more likely.
What's being done?
STEG's decision creates a formal path for more solar customers to add batteries while staying within approved technical standards. Installing batteries and hybrid inverters safely matters for individual properties and for the grid everyone shares.
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By issuing detailed specifications, STEG is making home energy storage part of the country's practical response to grid strain and rising power demand.
Tunisia's solar industry welcomed the step. Sadok Besbes, who leads the renewable energy group at the Confederation of Citizen Enterprises of Tunisia, described the approval as an important advance for spreading energy storage to more homes and businesses.
Besbes also urged the government to help households financially, including by lowering customs duties on solar panels and batteries. If those costs fall, more people could combine rooftop solar with storage and better shield themselves from outages.
The approval gives solar-equipped homes and businesses a clearer path to backup power while giving Tunisia a new tool to cope with a strained electricity system.
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