An Analysis of Hydrogen Production from Renewable and Sustainable Energy Resources in Algeria

The main issue facing the world in the twenty-first century is the pollution brought on by the usage of fossil fuels. Due to economic expansion and rising per-person demand for electricity, energy consumption is rising. Taking Algeria as a case study, electricity consumption increased by 5% in 2021 to 72 TWh. It had been increasing very rapidly from 2009–2019 (8%/year), besides technological development and the evolution of the price of fossil fuels. Based on those statistics, the Algerian government launched a plan to invest in other sources of energy, like green energy. One of the green energy sources is hydrogen-based energy systems, which are appealing due to their benefits, which dovetail well with public concern about polluting emissions and climate change. But the challenge for hydrogen storage is the search for the ideal material with high H2 capacity. On the other hand, there are other sources of energy that are considered green, taking advantage of low installation costs. For example, the installation of photovoltaic solar panels or wind turbines now costs as much as that of infrastructure linked to fossil fuels. In addition, Algeria’s energy situation has a significant solar energy potential of 5.2 million billion kWh/year or 430 times of all proven oil reserves. Besides, it has a moderate wind regime; this energy potential can be exploited for pumping water, particularly in the highlands. Another source that Algeria attempts to valorise is the biomass potential, which is made up of biomass from forests, urban and agricultural waste. As a result of that, the National Energy Management Fund has been set up to finance these projects and grant non-remunerated loans and guarantees for investments promoting energy efficiency. Since 2002, Algeria has had an environmental and sustainable development action plan. It plans to install 22 GW of renewable energy by 2030, and other projects with 200 MWp/year should be carried out over the period 2025–2030. Unfortunately, the hydraulic capacity in the electricity production park is low due to the insufficient number of exploitable hydraulic sites. Finally, the investment opportunities in the renewable energy (RE) sector are immense and essential to getting out of the era of oil and gas.