Power in Algeria

A new power plant will help meet the rapidly growing energy needs of eastern Algeria when it enters service at the end of 2011.

Algerian electric company Shariket Karhaba Koudiet Eddraouch, owned by Sonelgaz and Sonatrach, has awarded the contract to build the new plant to General Electric (GE) and the Spanish engineering firm Iberdrola Ingenieria y Construccion. The Koudiet Eddraouch power plant will be built in El-Tarf province, 700km east of Algiers.

GE's contract is valued at approximately €635m. Additionally, GE also is in the process of signing a contractual services agreement to provide maintenance and parts over 20 years.

The new facility is expected to produce 1,200MW of power, which would increase Algeria's current installed generation capacity by approximately 18 per cent.

As one of the largest combined-cycle power plants in the region, the project would help to meet Algeria's electricity demand, which is growing at the rate of more than seven per cent per year.

According to the Algerian Ministry of Energy and Mining, Algeria's power requirements will reach 14,000MW by 2010, as the country's economy continues to grow.

GE plans to manufacture the F-class gas turbines for the Koudiet Eddraouch plant at its facilities in Belfort, France. Previously, GE provided its F-class turbines for the 1,227MW Hadjret En-Nouss plant and the 800MW Skikda project, which are also in Algéria.