Algeria has doubled its renewable energy target to 25GW to be achieved by 2030, according to the state press agency APS.
With a goal of fulfilling this aim, Algeria plans to install 13.5 GW of solar photovoltaic capacity by 2030.
The country has further planned to make investments on around 5 GW of wind energy and another 2 GW of concentrated solar power (CSP).
All these projects together are expected to offset the need of an additional 22 GW of natural gas power generation within Algeria.
It is estimated that, through this target Algeria can achieve nearly 25 percent of its energy needs from green resources by 2030.
Recently, President of the Algerian Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika has highlighted the need to fructify the hydrocarbons as well as the renewable energies of the country and to profit from them.
“Oil, conventional and shale gas as well as renewable energies are gifts from God. We have to fructify them and profit from them, for us and for future generations, while scrupulously ensuring the protection of the population health and the environment,” stated the Head of State in a message.
With an aim to promote green energy adoption in the country, the energy minister announced a feed-in tariff (FiT) program last year.
The program offers solar power generators about $0.17 per kilowatt-hour, and has so far contributed to about 350 MW worth of solar PV projects in pipeline.
Last month, Algerian Minister of Energy Youcef Yousfi and Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Lilianne Ploumen jointly expressed the willingness to boost their cooperation in the fields of oil, gas and renewable energy industries.
They discussed cooperation between the two countries in the hydrocarbon field, according to which Algeria will be manufacturing equipment and materials needed for these industries.
Algeria is counted among a leading natural gas producer in Africa. It is also the second-largest supplier of gas to Europe.
For Algeria, investment in renewable energy is a substitute way of addressing unemployment, which is around 16 percent right now.
Sabeena Wahid
editor@greentechlead.com