The People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria plans to join the German Desertec project as part of its strategy to diversify its energy resources. This was recently revealed by the Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab.
The minister mentioned that the national energy operators signed a memorandum of understanding with Dii Desert Energy, the operator of the German Desertec project and that the two are in the process of signing the final agreement.
“The signing of the final paperwork is lagging behind because of the chaos created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mohamed Arkab. “Nevertheless, negotiations are ongoing through videoconference and if need be, the final agreement will also be signed through the virtual channel,” he added.
This plan will mark an important shift to the North African country, as the Sahara Desert, a key element of the German Desertec project, covers nearly 90% of Algerian territory. The project will be important in the diversification of the energy mix in this state, whose exports are almost 100% dependent on hydrocarbons, and it will create a new national model for the consumption of electrical energy.
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The German Desertec project
The German Desertec project is a large-scale project supported by a foundation of the same name and the consortium Dii (Desertec industrial initiative) created in Germany as a limited liability company (GmbH). The project was launched in 2010 and abandoned a while later before being restarted at the end of December 2019.
It aims to create a global renewable energy plan based on the concept of harnessing sustainable power from sites where renewable sources of energy are more abundant and transferring it through high-voltage direct current transmission to consumption centers. All kinds of renewable energy sources, including solar, wind, hydro and biomass are envisioned. The sun-rich deserts of the world play a special role.
