Sonelgaz services managed “in very short terms” to ensure the resumption of electricity supply for 175,870 subscribers, after the interruptions caused by the major fires in several provinces of the country, as confirmed today, Wednesday, by the CEO of the complex, Chaher Bolakhres.
During a press conference devoted to reviewing the accidents caused by forest fires in several regions of the country, Boulakhres said that out of the total outages, about 80 percent of them took place within a preventive framework and the other 20 percent were the result of repaired defects.
The first official of Sonelgaz complex also indicated that 22,670 linear meters of high-pressure electrical cables have caught fire, in addition to 26,300 linear meters of low-pressure.
In the same regard, Boulakhres said, “We were able to ensure the resumption of electricity supply to the concerned residences thanks to the plans that Sonelgaz drew up to manage this type of crisis at a time when the country is experiencing a peak in consumption, in addition to the health crisis,” adding that the plans implemented by this public complex have shown their effectiveness despite the significant losses recorded” as a result of these fires, which the official did not address the cost.
He went on to say, “Despite the severity of the forest fires that touched many areas at the same time, our systems were able to confront the matter, as all replacement and rescue operations succeeded, especially thanks to the rapid interventions of our elements day and night at the level of the national territory.”
For his part, the Director General of the National Electrical System Operator of the Sonelgaz Complex, Aziz Ameyoud, confirmed that the peak electricity consumption this summer was recorded on Monday, July 12, with a capacity of 16,065 megawatts, an increase of 9.18 percent compared to the peak recorded in the summer of 2020 (14,714 megawatts).
According to him, the increasing demand for electricity is due to the heat wave recorded since the beginning of last July, knowing that the expected peak by this branch for the summer of 2021 was estimated at 16,500 megawatts, according to Ameyoud.
