Algeria’s Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil has announced the country’s plans to build its first commercial nuclear power station. He speculated that the country would have its first reactor complete by 2020 with an additional reactor created every subsequent five years.
He said Algeria had atomic energy agreements with Argentina, China, France, and the United States and was also in talks with Russia and South Africa. "We are very advanced in that area and hope to have many agreements," Khelil said on Algerian state radio. "I would say that towards 2020 we will probably have our first reactor and we’ll probably have a reactor every five years after that."
Algeria is one of Africa’s top oil and gas producers, but wants to develop other energy sources to free up more hydrocarbons for lucrative export markets and to produce petrochemicals.
Khelil said the government wanted to give a lot more importance to solar energy and was aiming for 15% of Algeria‘s electricity to be generated from renewable sources including solar and wind by 2025-2030.
A pilot hybrid solar-gas power station is being constructed in Hassi R’mel in the Sahara Desert that will be able to generate 150 MW, of which 35% would be generated by sunlight, he added.
