The government of Algeria is set to build a 50MW solar power plant. This is after Condor was chosen for the development following a call for tenders issued a few months ago for construction of several solar power plants in the country.
Algeria issued a call for tenders in May 2019 for the construction of 150 MW solar power plants in Algeria. Initially, 93 projects were involved in the race, but in the end eight of them were selected during the pre-selection phase in June 2019. Subsequently, five projects reached the final phase and only one was able to win the power purchase contract. The winning project was developed by Power Generation, owned by the Algerian company Condor.
Also Read:Zimbabwe’s Gwanda solar plant project receives US $14m
Solar power plant
The 50MW project upon completion will provide electricity at US $0.067 per kilowatt over the next ten years. Electricity will be sold at 8.28 DZD/kWh, or $0.069/kWh. This price is higher than that charged following other tenders in North Africa due to high civil engineering and logistics costs in Algeria.
The minimum period for a return on investment for the winning company is estimated at 15 years. The winning project will be developed on the basis of a 20-year power purchase contract.
Algeria has an enormous potential for renewable energy. It enjoys a sunshine duration of 2,000 to 6,000 Wh/m2, which represents 10 times the world consumption. It makes this North African country one of the largest solar energy sources in the world.
The country is set to reach electricity production capacity of 33,000MW by 2022 against the current 21,000MW. This is according to Energy Minister, Mustapha Guitouni. He pointed out that investments will meet Algeria’s energy demands while the surplus will be exported to other countries.
“We are working to organize our domestic markets in order to improve our network to enable us transport electricity to foreign markets,” said Mustapha.
