[Premium] Algeria in Talks on Power Exports to Libya
Algerian state utility Sonelgaz has held talks about possible electricity exports to Libya November 21. Most Algerian power is generated from gas.
Sonelgaz CEO Mohamed Arkab told state news agency APS that his meeting with General Electricity Company of Libya (Gecol) touched on a possible transmission link to permit power exports, adding that Algeria has an electricity surplus particularly in the winter.
He said that both sides were looking at relaunching a study begun in 2010 which was delayed by military intervention and the ousting of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi the following year. The Gecol delegation, led by its executive director Ali Mohamed Saci, is on a two-day visit to Algeria, concluding November 22.
Much of Libya's pre-2011 power generation came from associated gas, for instance supplied from German firm Wintershall-run fields, but these supplies have been cut or disrupted in the six years since, even in cases where oil production has restarted. Libya though exports a significant amount of the gas produced near Melitah via the Green Stream subsea pipe to Italy.
Arkab separately said November 20 that Sonelgaz was looking to connect an additional 2.389 GW of generation capacity in Algeria to its transmission and distribution system by summer 2018, taking total capacity to 13.522 GW. This would include a 34-MW plant (presumed to be gas-fired) at In Salah in southwest Algeria, while renewable generator SKTM is adding 266.2 MW of capacity in the far south.
Sonelgaz said that Algeria’s national electricity production in 2016 was 66.3 terawatt-hours (up 2.4% year on year) of which 47.4% (31.4 TWh) was generated by Sonelgaz-owned firms SPE and SKTM, and the remaining 52.6% by Sonelgaz joint ventures and other Algerian businesses.
The vast majority of Algeria's power is generated from gas, with data from state energy regulator Creg saying 15.7bn m3 of gas was used in 2014 in the country's power generation sector, according to a study published last year by the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies. The trend on gas used in power generation is upward, as new plant is added. In April 2017, US turbine-maker giant GE signed a contract worth over $3bn to supply turbines and other equipment to about ten Sonelgaz existing power plants (11 GW) in the country and to train up local staff, extending on a similar arrangement agreed in 2013.
Algeria was hit by freak snowfalls last January that disrupted not only domestic power and gas distribution, but also exports from Sonatrach’s Skikda LNG plant to southern France lasting almost three weeks.
Sonelgaz says 99% of Algerian homes have electricity from the grid, while 59% have mains gas, with Arkab reassuring the public this week that “regarding gas [distribution], everything is in place to assure citizens of a winter in the best possible conditions.”