Boulenouar Wind Power Station, also Boulenoir Wind Power Station, is a wind power plant, under development in

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

. When completed, as expected in 2022, the power station will be the largest wind power station in Mauritania.

Location

The power station is located in the village of

Boulenouar Boulenouar ( ar, بولنوار, sometimes spelled Boulenoir) is a town and commune in Mauritania, situated on the railway line from Nouadhibou to Zouerate and on the road between Nouadhibou and Nouakchott. Its main resource is water, which ...

approximately , northwest of the city of Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. This is in the extreme northwest of the country, close to the international border with Western Sahara.

Overview

The wind farm consists of 39 Siemens-Gamesa turbines, each with rated capacity of 2.625 megawatts. The total installed capacity of the power station is 102.375 megawatts.

Development

The power station is owned by the

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

that is developing it and will operate it once construction is completed. The shareholders in the consortium are (a) the German conglomerate

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

and (b) the Spanish wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa. The Spanish technology conglomerate Elecnor was part of the consortium but withdrew and sold its shareholding to Siemens, in the third quarter of 2020.

Costs and funding

As of September 2020, the development of this power station is budgeted at €140 million. The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), a Kuwait-based development finance institution that is part of the

Arab League The Arab League ( ar, الجامعة العربية, ' ), formally the League of Arab States ( ar, جامعة الدول العربية, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world, which is located in Northern Africa, Western Africa, E ...

, has committed to lend €120 million towards the development of this power station.

Impact

As of 2020, Mauritania uses approximately 380 megawatts of electricity. Of this, approximately 76 percent (approx. 289 MW), is sourced from thermal generators. The remaining 24 percent (approx. 91 MW), is imported from Manantali Hydroelectric Power Station in Mali. With the country's population growling at 2.6 percent annually, renewable sources of energy, particularly solar and wind, offer an environmentally friendly pathway to expand its electricity supply and stimulate economic growth.

References

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External links

Elecnor wins contract to build its second Wind Farm in Mauritania
As of 3 July 2018. Wind farms in Mauritania Energy infrastructure in Mauritania