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Algeria's energy demands are tremendously growing, and on the African continent it ranks among the countries with the highest energy consumption. To counter its growing energy demand, the country is progressively adopting renewable energy technologies, although conventional energy technologies still play a central role in its electricity production. The huge solar energy potential in Algeria can be exploited and utilized to meet the country's growing energy demand with minimal greenhouse gas production. Given that concentrating solar power is viewed as one of the most promising alternatives in the field of solar energy utilization, this study investigates the viability of a 100 MW parabolic trough-based power plant at Tamanrasset, Algeria. The plant was simulated in the System Advisor Model software considering the actual electricity load profile of the targeted location and implementing two different condenser types: evaporative and air-cooled. By comparing the plant's electricity production to the city's real load, the plant was in position of supplying about 78% and 60% of the city's electricity demand during the winter and summer seasons, respectively. The results show that implementation of such CSP plants could play an important role in meeting the energy demand as well as mitigating climate change through greenhouse emissions avoided in electricity generation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The newly adopted version of the National Renewable Energy Program of Algeria offers the country the possibility to integrate 27% of renewable energy in the national energy mix. Preservation of fossil resources, diversification of electricity production and contribution to sustainable development are among challenges that face the country nowadays. The objective of this paper is to propose a methodology and outline a procedure to determine the best configuration and the optimum design of future solar thermal power plants with minimum levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and maximum annual power generation as objectives. Our study is based on a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant of capacity of 50 MW to be erected in Hassi R'mel City, in the south of Algeria. In this methodology, the size of the solar field, the fossil fill fraction of backup system and full load hours of storage are optimized for the minimum LCOE using the concept of solar multiple. Moreover, different models, technologies and scenarios for parabolic trough and central tower receiver power plant are presented. LCOE presents a basis of comparison for weighted average costs of different power generation technologies. It is clearly shown that the solar power plant based on central receiver tower technology with 48% of backup system and 8 h of storage is the most attractive and optimum plant. It was also found from financial analysis that the LCOE can decreases by 13% with less interest rate and tax deductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to determine the optical and thermal performance of a solar parabolic trough collector under the climate conditions of Algerian Sahara, a computer program based on one dimensional implicit finite difference method with energy balance approach has been developed. The absorber pipe, glass envelope and fluid were divided into several segments and the partial derivation in the differential equations was replaced by the backward finite difference terms in each segment. Two fluids were considered, liquid water and TherminolVP-1™ synthetic oil. Furthermore, the intensity of the direct solar radiation was estimated by monthly average values of the atmospheric Linke turbidity factor for different tracking systems. According to the simulation findings, the one axis polar East-West and horizontal East-West tracking systems were most desirable for a parabolic trough collector throughout the whole year. In addition, it is found that the thermal efficiency was about 69.73-72.24%, which decreases with the high synthetic oil fluid temperatures and increases in the lower water temperature by 2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The use of renewable energy and more particularly solar energy in hydrogen production is considered the most viable and the most environment protective. Electricity is required for water electrolysis to produce hydrogen. As photovoltaic modules enable the direct conversion of solar energy into electricity, photovoltaic systems are then the most indicated systems for this task. Algeria is richly endowed with renewable energy resources particularly solar energy. This situation makes Algeria an excellent place for the production of hydrogen using renewable energy. In the present work, particular attention is paid to the production of hydrogen from solar energy. The aim is to evaluate the potential of hydrogen energy production using an electrolyzer-concentrating photovoltaic system for different sites in Algeria. First the perspective of solar energy development, in light of the present energy situation in Algeria is discussed. Taking into consideration the availability of resources, the meteorological and radiation conditions, the advances in PV, tracking and electrolyzer technologies, different parameters are then used to determine the potential of hydrogen production in different sites. The results are reported and discussed. The potential at different locations in Algeria is determined. An inter-comparison between different technologies is carried out. For the system with the Fresnel reflector, the results show that the mean value over the country of the hydrogen production potential per unit cell area is about 0.14 kg H2/m2 day for the least favorable month; while this value is about 0.19 kg H2/m2 day for the most favorable month. For the system with the parabolic trough reflector, these values are about 0.10 kg H2/m2 day for the least favorable month and about 0.17 kg H2/m2 day for the most favorable month. Results show that electrolyzer-concentrating photovoltaic system is more appropriate for large scale production of hydrogen. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]