APS : Thursday, 19 January 2017
LONDON (U.K.)- Algeria is determined to make the next 20 years an era of real development for sustainable energy, said the minister of Energy Noureddine Boutarfa.
“We have set ambitious and promising targets for renewable energy, and we are determined to make the newt 20years an era of real development for sustainable energy,” underlined Boutarfa in an interview to the Oxford Business Group published in its 2016 report on Algeria.
The minister recalled that Algeria’s national renewable energy programme envisages 47-57 TWh by 2030, of which more than 9TWh should be installed by 2020.
“The initial phase of our programme has already been launched, and since the end of 2016, Algeria has a capacity of 343 MW distributed throughout 14 provinces,” he said, underlining that “currently, 16 plants, with a capacity of 195 MW are already functional and provide renewable energy to the network, and another six set to come on-line shortly.”
These first plants allowed identifying the constraints and challenges that can arise during the development of large-scale renewable energy projects, explained the minister.
Boutarfa underlined that the national renewable energy development programme will allow for the large-scale development of renewable facilities combined with a national industry, which will include all elements of the renewable value chain, including engineering, equipment and construction.
“We pay particular attention to creating the best conditions to achieve the objectives assigned to the new renewable development strategy,” he said.
The assessment of the national energy sector has confirmed that it possesses the needed competencies and capacities, and as such “our strategy will aim to help participating companies grow by guaranteeing them an environment suitable for their continued development,” he added.
Boutarfa added that “to accelerate the programme’s implementation, a call to investors for 4000 MW in solar technology is being finalized by the energy sector for the installation of electricity-generating facilities from renewable sources.”
“The call makes it possible for investors to build power plants for energy at pre-selected sites, which will facilitate the procedural aspects for investors, as well as increase the pace of implementation,” underlined the minister
Studies concerning the connection of these sites to the electricity grid are underway to determine the capacity of the power stations to be installed, he added.
