The Spanish group Duro Felguera has decided to suspend the Djelfa combined cycle thermal power plant project, reported the Spanish press on Thursday, June 20.
The Spanish company has been renegotiating the contract with Algeria for months, signed in 2014 for a value of 544 million euros (93 billion dinars). As the negotiations were unsuccessful, it chose to suspend work on the project.
Given the need to adapt it to the competing reality, substantially altered from its origin for reasons not attributable to Duro Felguera and after multiple attempts at a solution, it was agreed to suspend the works,” explained the company on Thursday, according to the Spanish newspaper Cinco Dias, which points out that it has delayed the publication of this information since June 17.
Duro Felguera said he would promote “necessary” actions to reach a definitive solution for all parties. The reasons for this decision were not explained by the engineering group, which communicated the decision to the (Spanish) National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), according to the same media.
The contract was signed in 2014 with the Electricity Production Company (SPE), a subsidiary of the Sonelgaz group. It concerned the construction of a combined cycle gas electricity production plant in Ain Ouessara, wilaya of Djelfa (300 km south of Algiers). The execution time was set at 40 months and according to the turnkey development formula (EPC, in English).
The progress rate of the project was not communicated either by the energy group or by the Spanish press which widely relayed the news. It should be noted that the completion time for the Djelfa power plant was 3 years and 4 months initially and the project was therefore to be delivered in 2017 or at the latest in 2018. The project is in its 10th year since the signing of the contract.
The remaining work was entrusted to an Algerian company
However, it seems that the Spanish group’s announcement came two years late. Because, due to the delay in the completion of the Ain Ouessara power plant project (100 km north of Djelfa), the remaining work had been entrusted to an Algerian company, announced the CEO of the Sonelgaz Group, Mourad Adjal, in July 2022.
The latter explained that the project was delayed in completion, due to the contractor in charge of the project abandoning the work for two entire years due to financial circumstances specific to him. Mr. Adjal indicated that “a meeting was organized with this contractor who was offered the chance to embark on completing the work, but without success, due to his financial situation.”
The same official added that measures were taken to complete the remaining work with Algerian skills, by entrusting them to the Company for the Construction of Energy and Industrial Infrastructure (Inerkib) specializing in civil engineering and assembly. power plants, especially since it is expected to take delivery of the project at the end of 2024.
In January 2023, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, indicated, during a plenary session at the National People’s Assembly (APN), that the power plant project in Ain Ouessara, having suffered a delay of production, was going to be partially commissioned during the summer of last year while waiting to launch production definitively in 2024. The minister indicated that the progress rate of the work was 72%. The production capacity of this plant will amount to 1,262 megawatts once fully operational.
