Summary:

On 20 September 2023, a technical issue at a power station in Rades resulted in power blackouts across all of Tunisia during the early morning hours.

Power supply issues continued across the country throughout the day as the Société Tunisienne de l’électricité et du gaz  (STEG) worked to restore power.

Initial reports indicated that an explosion may have occurred at the Rades power facility, with reports indicating that the Minister of the Interior, Kamel Feki, personally visited the site.

Following the incident, the President of STEG announced that high levels of humidity had caused the technical issues at the Rades power facility. Once the Rades facility was disrupted, power facilities across the country were strained in order to make up the loss, leading to the additional losses of power nationwide.

Days later, the President of STEG was dismissed by President Kais Saied. The firing was not explicitly linked to the outage, but came only days afterward.

Analysis from Cloudflare showed that a massive drop-off in internet activity across Tunisia corresponded with the loss of power.

STEG has often had to result to both scheduled and unscheduled load balancing, particularly in the summer months when air-conditioners are used widely, resulting in the loss of power in particular areas of Tunisia. However, a nationwide loss of power is uncommon in Tunisia.

Outlook:  

As the Tunisian summer draws to a close, the risks of major power outages will be increasingly low. Air-conditioner use will soon drop significantly, removing one of the main stressors on the Tunisian power grid.

Major, nationwide power outages are unlikely to occur with frequency. However, aging and poorly managed infrastructure could still pose risks of intermittent outages across the electrical grid. As nationalized utilities like STEG come under increasing budget pressure, the possibilities for systemic failures will continue to grow.

Organizations and homes should both be prepared for the potential of power outages with basic supplies such as batteries and flashlights, as well as extra water in the event that an outage occurs during warm weather conditions.

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