Bechar Province

Bechar Province is repositioning from a historical trade junction to a primary energy producer—a transition from moving goods to harvesting sunlight. The province sits at the junction of trans-Saharan roads, 58 km from Morocco, and was the terminus of the railroad France built southward from Oran as part of the never-completed trans-Saharan railway project. The French Foreign Legion fought fierce battles here from 1889-1903 to secure this desert crossroads; the village of Bechar fell shortly after the 1903 Battle of El Moungar.

Now that trans-Saharan caravan trade has been superseded, the province's economic logic shifts to what the desert does best: receive solar radiation. Bechar ranks third among Algerian regions for solar electricity potential at 321.1 GWh/km², behind only Tamanrasset and Adrar. Multiple projects are underway: an 80 MW plant at Al-Abadla under the Tafouk 1 program, 120 MW from Cosider and Fimer, and 30 MW at Beni Ounif as part of the Solar 1000 MW initiative.

This represents a form of niche construction—Algeria is engineering its desert provinces into primary producers that convert raw solar input into electricity for northern consumption. The Sahara receives enough solar energy in hours to power Europe for a year. Bechar's transition from trade corridor to energy harvesting zone mirrors primary succession in ecology: bare substrate being colonized by organisms that can capture energy from sunlight.