Algeria and the European Union have agreed to pour $15.9 million (EUR 15 million) into joint efforts in emission mitigation including renewables deployment and power interconnection.
The agreement was reached last week in a “high-level political dialogue on energy” under the memorandum of understanding for energy cooperation the two sides signed 2013, the EU Directorate-General for Energy said in a press release.
The amount “aims to support the development of renewable energy projects, the integration of renewables into the system, including through new technologies, and electrical interconnection, the development of a green hydrogen economy, the increase of renewables in energy production and transport, as well as energy efficiency in buildings and public companies”, the statement said.
The allocation advances points of consensus achieved during the dialog in Brussels last week, where the 27-member bloc affirmed the North African country’s status “as a strategic and reliable partner in the EU energy supply of natural gas” and where both sides discussed “the evolution of European demand and supplies by Algeria”, the news release stated.
In the meeting co-chaired by EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson and Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Mohamed Arkab, Algeria and the EU agreed to promote the recovery of methane from their oil and gas industries, as well as the commercialization of captured methane. “This will yield mutual benefits in terms of climate change mitigation, better profitability of the Algerian gas industry and increased potential for additional supply to the European Union”, the media release said.
The two sides also agreed to intensify renewable energy development, especially for renewable hydrogen, both expressing “willingness to explore the possibility to establish an agreement in the hydrogen cooperation in order to identify concrete actions and projects”, it said.
“The two parties also plan to extend their cooperation in the exploration, production and use of rare materials, notably as inputs into the installation component industry for the production or storage of renewable energy”, the statement added.
“They also agreed to discuss about the possibility of creating industrial partnerships for the manufacturing of equipment, especially for renewables market”, it said.
There was also agreement on accelerating talks for the cross-border exchange of electricity supply between the EU and Algeria, which are separated by the Mediterranean Sea.
“Building on the very successful results of the Taka Nadifa (clean energy) project, the EU together with its Algerian counterparts have designed a EUR 15 million worth cooperation program underpinned by the priorities identified through the Dialogue”, the statement said. Rolled out in 2015, Taka Nadifa is an EU support program for Algeria’s renewables sector.
Source : Rigzone
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