Tunisia is facing an energy deficit of about $3.8 billion, accounting for nearly 51% of its total trade deficit. This figure has increased annually since 2000 due to rising domestic consumption and a structural failure to build true energy sovereignty.
On January 29, five new concession contracts for electricity generation from renewable energy were submitted to the Tunisian parliament for approval. The solar power plant projects at Khobna, Mezzouna (Sidi Bouzid), El Ksour, Sagdoud (Gafsa), and Menzel Habib (Gabes) have a total capacity of about 598 megawatts, with total investment estimated at $560 million, awarded to foreign multinational corporations.
Opposition quickly emerged. On April 21, the Tunisian Federation of Electricity and Gas held a press conference, arguing that these concessions would turn the state electricity company STEG into a mere grid operator, while power production is handed to foreign companies. Infrastructure costs are borne by the people, while profits are sent abroad.
According to the Tunisian Economic Observatory, these five concessions benefit from large tax incentives and stability clauses that could undermine Tunisia's fiscal sovereignty. There is no substantive technology transfer, weak local integration, and limited job opportunities. More worryingly, carbon credits from emission reductions could be transferred to the corporations rather than being public assets.
Despite workers and activists protesting outside parliament, the five concessions were approved. The Energy Minister and a senior official from the Ministry of Industry were dismissed to placate public opinion.
Critics point out that about 73% of Tunisia's energy comes from petroleum products, consumed primarily by the private transport sector. The right solution requires investment in public transport, curbs on car imports, progressive taxes on fuel-intensive vehicles, and boosting domestic refining capacity. A $2 billion joint refinery project with Libya at the town of Skhira, initiated in 2012, was suspended and quietly canceled — not for lack of value, but because it threatened the interests of European powers that benefit from exporting refined petroleum products to the region.
Analysts say Tunisia's energy crisis is real, but the solution does not lie in further privatizing public resources under foreign management. What is needed is public control over energy production and distribution, genuine technology transfer, investment in domestic industrial capacity, and regional cooperation to build sovereignty rather than deepen dependency.
