ALGIERS, May 31 (Reuters) - Algerian state power utility Sonelgaz plans to start exporting electricity to Europe in the third quarter of this year, the company's chief executive said on Sunday.
'We plan to export 400 megawatts of electricity to Europe from the third quarter of 2009,' Nourredine Bouterfa was quoted as saying by the APS official news agency.
He did not say which European country would be the end user but Sonelgaz and Moroccan power company ONE last year signed an agreement to allow Algeria to export up to 1,000 megawatts a year to Spain and import up to 700 MW if the need arose.
Morocco's ONE, which doubled the capacity of its interconnector to Spain to 400 MW in 2007, has a Spanish power market trading licence.
(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Carol Bishopric) Keywords: ALGERIA EUROPE/POWER (maghreb.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; tel: +213 72 70 20) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
'We plan to export 400 megawatts of electricity to Europe from the third quarter of 2009,' Nourredine Bouterfa was quoted as saying by the APS official news agency.
He did not say which European country would be the end user but Sonelgaz and Moroccan power company ONE last year signed an agreement to allow Algeria to export up to 1,000 megawatts a year to Spain and import up to 700 MW if the need arose.
Morocco's ONE, which doubled the capacity of its interconnector to Spain to 400 MW in 2007, has a Spanish power market trading licence.
(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Carol Bishopric) Keywords: ALGERIA EUROPE/POWER (maghreb.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; tel: +213 72 70 20) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.