Algeria could become Africa’s greenest country with its eco-friendly initiatives

In line with the paradigm shift in energy consumption, numerous regions all across the globe are beginning to more intensely explore the options of cleaner energy alternatives.

The need to cut down reliance on fossil fuels which pollutes the earth and triggers climate change has been emphasized by numerous global forums, and of course last year’s food crises.

For most of 2022, Africa experienced massive bouts of food shortages, brought about by unfavourable farming/herding conditions. The volume of locally produced foods reduced drastically, and prices of imported foods skyrocketed.

This, more than anything, reiterated the world’s need to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses, and other environmentally harmful pollutants.

While this has been slow to take effect, countries all over the world have no less started to implement programs that bolster the use of alternative energy, and countries in Africa are no exception.

This new development was disclosed to the BBC by the Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab, who stated, “Algeria has more than 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Some regions of the country count 3,900 hours per year, including the plateaux and the desert.”

According to the report, issued by the BBC, “The Algerian Renewable Energy Programme aims, in the short and medium terms, to build a capacity to produce 15,000 MW of solar energy, increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix of the country, which is currently just 1%.

The state-owned oil and gas company, Sonatrach, plans to replace its conventional power plants throughout the south of the country with renewable energy plants with a capacity of 1,300 MW. Algeria has also announced the deployment of 1,000 chargers for electric vehicles throughout its 58 provinces by March this year to promote sustainability in the highly polluting transport industry.”

This initiative is not the first that Algeria is implementing to combat climate change. As recently as November last year, the country’s administration placed a ban on diesel-powered cars, giving the instruction that car dealers are only allowed to make provisions for electric cars moving forward. Read the story here.

This is in line with the administration’s goal to invest in new technologies and the various applications of hydrogen as a significant contributor to its clean energy transition could make Algeria, Africa’s greenest country in the coming years, although Mozambique still holds this title.