A Solar Opportunity in Algeria

Considering its sun-bleached location, you’d think it was only a matter of time before Algeria went solar. According to Algerian state media, the North African oil and gas producer has plans to build a plant for the manufacture of solar panels, in an effort to draw 5 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2015, Reuters reports. As proof of the government backing behind the project, state-owned utility Sonelgaz will invest $100 million in the factory and launch a round of bidding for contractors by the end of 2009.

[Algeria’s official news agency] said the factory, which is scheduled to open in 2012, will each year produce photovoltaic cells with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts, equivalent to about one tenth the capacity of a small nuclear power plant.

The announcement follows not too far behind the news of the Desertec Industrial Initiative earlier this summer, in which a consortium of European businesses plans to finance a €400 billion ($597.3 billion) project that generates power in North Africa and export it to Europe. The Desertec project has yet to significantly move forward, perhaps partially due to fears of exploitation from those on whom its progression rests.

Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil has expressed reservations about the project, saying earlier this year: “We don’t want foreign companies exploiting solar energy from our land.”