Tunisia Hosts MENALINKS Battery Energy Storage Systems Training
This training session took place on October 13–14, 2025, at the Sheraton Hotel in Tunis. The programme is part of the broader MENALINKS long-term training, “Powering the Future – A Training in Renewable Energy Integration and Power-to-X (RE-PtX),” aimed to equip local professionals and key stakeholders with actionable knowledge tailored to the local context.
The MENALINKS programme, through its implementing partner RENAC (Renewables Academy AG), deliveres a comprehensive approach to building regional capacity for renewable energy integration and Power-to-X solutions. The country-specific, face-to-face trainings complement the flexible, modular online curriculum offered by RENAC in spring 2026. The event in Tunis was a foundational step in MENALINKS’ strategy to foster expert communities and transferable skills across the region, particularly in areas identified as national priorities such as advanced storage technologies.
Training Objectives
The BESS training’s principal objective was to address the integration and management of both centralised and decentralised battery storage within Tunisia’s power system. Primary learning goals included:
Explaining the role of BESS in frequency and voltage control, particularly considering the current absence of an explicit ancillary services market in Tunisia.
Describing key subsystems and battery types for utility-scale BESS, including recent local pilot projects and new battery technologies.
Applying functional and non-functional requirements for BESS related to grid codes and standards, differentiating centralised and decentralised use cases.
Conducting practical BESS sizing exercises using Tunisian market data.
Evaluating key economic indicators such as Levelised Cost of Storage (LCOS) and Levelised Cost of Charging (LCOC) for local business cases.
Secondary objectives focused on assessing technical configurations such as hybrid and virtual power plant BESS for grid integration, the outline of feasibility studies, procurement criteria, and hands-on validation through international standards and compliance protocols. Participants also engaged with topics relating to project lifecycle management, safety, cyber security, and the latest trends in BESS technology.
The interactive format of the training ensured strong engagement and actionable outcomes for up to 14 selected participants, with particular focus on fostering knowledge transfer and building lasting local expert pools.
The agenda spanned two days of highly interactive modules:
Day 1: Foundations of BESS design, grid code requirements, functional and non-functional standards, and practical group exercises using Tunisian grid data.
Day 2: Economics and incentive mechanisms for BESS, advanced modelling and simulation, integration strategies, system-level testing, procurement, safety, and a capstone group exercise developing a BESS integration plan for a Tunisian project.
Trainers and Contributors
This session was facilitated by a unique collaboration of local and international experts. Given the nascent stage of BESS deployment in Tunisia, the training enlisted experienced global trainers alongside national specialists.
The audience included engineers, grid operators, project managers, and key technical staff from Tunisian institutions such as the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME), Société Tunisienne de l'Électricité et du Gaz (STEG), Agence Nationale pour la Maîtrise de l'Énergie (ANME), the Tunisian MENALINKS partner university National Engineering School of Monastir (ENIM).
MENALINKS also invited stakeholders from Morocco to the training from the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development (MTEDD) and the National Electricity Regulatory Authority (ANRE). This is in line with the programme's broader approach, which aims to create synergies through regional cooperation.
Link to MENALINKS eLearning Programme
This Tunis face-to-face training integrates with the eLearning programme “Powering the Future – A Training in Renewable Energy Integration and Power-to-X (RE-PtX).” The curriculum features modules on sector coupling, variable renewable energy grid integration, BESS applications, Power-to-X solutions, and AI in energy systems, empowering participants for long-term professional development and supporting the region’s decarbonisation journey.
Press and stakeholders are encouraged to reference the comprehensive background provided here and to follow ongoing updates for future country-specific events. For more details, please contact info@menalinks.org.
