Can Tunisia’s huge renewable energy opportunity prevail against its terrible politics?

Tunisia has some of the best prospects for renewable energy in Africa. It has good wind resources, excellent solar resources and a strong economic imperative to displace imported and expensive Algerian gas. Its proximity to Europe also means that it will amongst the first countries to benefit from HVDC and – potentially – green hydrogen technology.

Excellent officials are driving policy at the Ministry of Industry Mines and Renewable Energy and want projects to succeed. But President Kaïs Saïed’s poisonous scapegoating of alleged ‘profiteers’, and his inflationary and subsidy-dependent macro-economic policy make delivering projects much harder than it needs to be.

African Energy has been weighing the risks and opportunities.