Status of renewable energy potential and utilization in Algeria

The Algerian economy is strongly dependent on fossil fuels' market where 93.6% of its exportations are mainly oil and natural gas. During the last decade, the market price of crude oil has fallen down drastically and up to this date its price is still fluctuating which have severely affected the national economy. Consequently, the transition to renewable energy exploitation and technology development became an indispensable objective for the Algerian government. Algeria is planning to shift to the era of green economy which is the unique solution to meet future energy needs and reduce environment-related risks simultaneously. The Algerian territory is characterized by abundant renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal energy. In this paper, a brief energy profile and renewable energy potential have been reviewed. The present study shows that the installed capacity concerning both photovoltaic and wind power plant; which have reached 354.3 MW (at June 2018), compared to the declared government targets presents slow integration progress of renewable energy compared to the large available renewable energy potential especially solar energy. Despite the considerable efforts made by the Algerian State to face of the challenges of reducing the economic dependency upon hydrocarbon revenues and greenhouse gas emissions (135.5 MT of carbon dioxide emission in 2018). This work provides useful information about the status of renewable energies in Algeria, which is considered as a scientific platform for researchers and industrial companies to seek suitable solutions for promoting the renewable energy field. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.