El Foulia Park Inaugurated, Becomes Africa's Second Largest Solar Plant

Algeria has officially inaugurated the El Foulia photovoltaic park, a significant national achievement located in the country's southeastern region. With a capacity of 300 megawatts, this new installation ranks as the second-largest solar energy facility on the African continent, surpassed only by Egypt's Benban solar complex. The park was constructed in less than two years and encompasses 69 solar fields, equipped with nearly 650,000 solar panels spread across 600 hectares.

The inauguration was attended by Algerian Minister of Energy Mourad Adjal, who highlighted the strategic importance of the El Foulia park. He emphasized its crucial role in reinforcing national electricity production capacities and addressing regional energy challenges. The project is a key component of the government's broader initiative to diversify the national electricity supply, which currently relies predominantly on natural gas to power its thermal power plants. The government has set an ambitious target to produce 15,000 watts of photovoltaic electrical energy by the year 2035.

The El Foulia park represents the third such project to be commissioned in 2026, following the establishment of two other solar plants in El Ghrous and El Mgaier, located in the east and south of Algiers, respectively. Algeria's commitment to expanding its renewable energy infrastructure continues, with plans to bring two additional solar power plants into service in the wilaya of El Oued during the first quarter of 2027, with capacities of 200 megawatts and 100 megawatts.