The announcement of the President of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, that his administration plans to establish a has been met with mixed reactions from various experts.

The council, when established, will be tasked with drafting energy policies that will be adopted by the country. This is one of the several changes that the Energy Sector in Algeria will reportedly make.

The institution will be constitutionalised when created. The President said, “Energy affects the economic and security future of Algeria and any major decision will have to be analysed beforehand by the National Energy Council.”

Several reactions trailed the President’s announcement, and International Economic Consultant and Expert, Abderrahmane Mebtoul, made six proposals for the country’s energy transition over the coming decades.

His first proposal, which is tagged a short-term solution, proposes the improvement of energy efficiency through a new pricing policy which wastes resources that are temporarily frozen for social reasons.

Second, he believes that traditional energy sources will play an important role in the country’s energy scene for another decade or more, so it is important for the country to continue to invest in the exploration and production of oil, as the transition will take a while and will be determined by the stability of the world energy power.

Third, he says that the Nuclear Engineering Institute should be able to train the technicians tasked with operating the country’s first power plant expected to be delivered in 2025; a plant that is intended to meet the electricity demands of many households in the country.

Fourth, he says that the government should invest in the study of oil/shale gas in as early as 5 years from now; 2025. Shale gas is natural, although the process of its exploitation requires drilling and a large amount of water that will be contaminated and cannot be used, as the gas is located at a depth of 3 kilometres inside rocks.

Fifth, he notes that there are two major risks for shale gas exploration: global warming due to the emission of greenhouse gases, and the contamination of water by the gas which then contaminates soil and vegetation.

Lastly, he suggests that the country should look into the potentials of renewable energy and develop it.

The country currently has a solar power capacity of 343 megawatts. It aims to produce 22 gigawatts of green energy by 2030 with 13.6 gigawatts reserved for photovoltaic solar power. The government plans to launch a solar mega-project “Tafouk1” in the coming years to build more photovoltaic solar power plants aimed to have a combined capacity of 4,00 megawatts. The project may cost up to $3.6 billion (about 390 billion Algerian dinars using the current exchange rate).