Fathallah Soukeur and Rabah Touileb launch energy consultancy Ener21

Having retired from public sector electricity infrastructure company Sonelgaz, senior executives Fathallah Soukeur and Rabah Touileb have launched their own electrical engineering consultancy by the name of Ener21. The firm has been established in partnership with Italian power consultancy, Ianus Consulting and Development.

Ener21 is a consulting firm that specialises in energy strategy and efficiency, based out of Rouiba in Algeria. One of the firm’s differentiating features is its richness in experience, boasting an average of 30 years of experience in the electricity sector for its experts, spanning the domains of generation, transmission and distribution. 

Among these experienced professionals are the firm's co-founders Fathallah Soukeur and Rabah Touileb, both of whom were formerly employed in public-sector energy company Sonelgaz. The state-owned power enterprise has supplied electricity to more than six million households and natural gas to three million, creating a scenario of 99% electrification and 59% gas penetration.

Touileb, who has a degree in electrical engineering from the Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, has been the Director General of Strategy and Forecasting at Sonelgaz since 2011. He will now take charge of business development at Ener21.

Soukeur, on the other hand, worked for The Management Company of the Transmission Network of Electricity (GRTE), which is one of the seven core subsidiaries of Sonelgaz. Sokeur began at GRTE more than two decades ago as the Director for Regional Transport Electricity, and most recently occupied the position of Head of Electricity Distribution Network Maintenance. He will now act as Chief Executive at Ener21, being the major shareholder at the firm.

The new firm’s capital has been opened out to Italian consulting firm Ianus Consulting & Development, which is run by senior executives Franco Remondino and Pietro Palopoli. The two have been assigned the position of Partner at Ener21.

Ener21’s short term objectives include playing a key role in the Algerian government’s renewable energy programme, which is due to be updated later this year. In the long term, the firm seeks to draw clients from across Africa and the globe. Ghana, in particular, will be an attractive prospect for the firm, as the country is restructuring both its thermal power sector as well as its solar energy infrastructure.