Algeria’s Groupe GRTE, a subsidiary of the state-owned power and gas utility Sonelgaz, has signed agreements with local engineering and construction companies to launch a 700 km, 400-kV interconnector project aimed at linking the electricity grid in southern Algeria with the country’s national grid. This interconnection project to link the "Pôle In Salah-Adrar-Timimoune" (PIAT) network to the national interconnected network (RIN) will consist in a double very high voltage electrical transmission line connecting Hassi R’mel and Timimoun, in southern Algeria. It is expected to require an investment of DZD135.5bn (US$1bn).
This project, whose goal is to strengthen the supply of electricity in the the south of the country, will cross the wilayas of Laghouat, Ghardaia, El Menea and Timimoun. It will also include the construction of three high voltage substations (400/220 kV) in the wilayas of Timimoun, El Menea and Adrar.
Algeria is also currently considering the construction of a high-voltage transmission line of nearly 1,300 km directly linking the wilayas of Ghardaia and Tamanrasset, close to the border with Niger and Mali, as part of an Algeria-Africa electric bridge.