APS : Saturday, 01 October 2016
ALGIERS-Algeria has the necessary potential to become the world’s first supplier of solar energy-based power to Europe and Africa, international expert affirmed Saturday in Algiers, calling for an Algeria-EU energy partnership to fund this transition recommended in the country’s energy model.
Thanks to its thermic solar potential in the Sahara, which equals 10 times the global consumption, should further exploit this comparative advantage to become a major world producer of power, said Gille Bonafi, international consultant and expert at the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) of the United Nations during a colloquium on energy transition in Africa.
Algeria, one of the largest solar fields in the world, records an insolation period ranging between 1,700 and 3,900 hours with a 5 KWH minimum received energy per m², the expert said, adding that in Europe, horizontal annual global solar irradiation ranges between 800 KWH/m² and 1,800 KWH/m² only.
“This is to say that Algeria has an extraordinary potential that allows it become the first world producer of solar-based power and supplier to Europe and Africa,” he added.
As Algeria is Africa’s first natural gas producer and has the 2nd gas reserves in Africa after Nigeria, “its key for the future” consists in the combination between solar and gas energies to produce electricity.
