Overview of Solar Potential, State of the Art and Future of Photovoltaic Installations in Algeria

Abstract-Solar Energy, found everywhere on Earth, represents an attractive alternative for electricity production thanks to photovoltaic technology (PV). Thereby, not only it decreases the dependence to fossil fuels, but it also protects the environment. Algeria, which has the most important solar potential of the Mediterranean sea (169440 TWh/year), is an ideal candidate for large-scale exploitation of solar energy. In this context, we propose in our work a balance sheet of general energy consumption and production in Algeria as well as a summary of the most important realized or currently planned projects for the exploitation of photovoltaic in this country. Keywords-Algeria, solar energy, photovoltaic, environment, energy production. 1