Algeria Plans to Develop Solar Power for Export

Algeria plans to make use of its hot southern desert to develop solar power for export and domestic consumption, the OPEC member country said on Monday.

The scheme is due to be completed by 2015 in Africa’s second-largest country, where most of the 33 million peopele live in the northern coastal strip. Temperatures in the desert south are high.
“Algeria has a huge sunny area with big potential to be exploited. It has also financial and human resources. It lacks nothing. We can compete with other countries,” Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil said.

Algeria, which belongs to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and is one of the main gas suppliers to Europe, has benefited financially from high oil prices.

To develop renewable energy the authorities have set up a company called New Energy Algeria (NEAL), which is 45 percent owned by state energy firm Sonatrach, 45 percent by gas and electricity utility Sonelgaz and 10 percent by private agrobusiness firm Semoulerie Industrielles de la Mitidja.

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