Western Sahara will host one of the largest wind farms on the planet

Soluna, a US company, announced it will build a 900 MW wind farm in Dakhla, Western Sahara, which will also house a data center for blockchain technology.

The Atlantic coast of Africa, in the heart of Western Sahara, is the location chosen by Soluna, a US company, to build an ambitious onshore wind farm project with a capacity, according to the company’s website, of 900 MW, located in a considerable area of ​​11,000 hectares. These figures would make the Harmattan Dakhla Wind Farm one of the largest onshore wind farms on the planet.

This new park, which featuresstrictly private financingIt would be located just 45 kilometers north of the city of Dahkla, with 100,000 inhabitants, in the disputed Oued-Ed-Dahab region. A location that certainly wasn’t chosen by chance. The geographical location of this enclave, on the edge of the desert, is known for being crossed by the so-called Harmattan, a characteristically cold, dry, and dusty West African trade wind that blows from the southern part of the Greater Sahara towards the Gulf of Guinea, especially between the months of November and March. Something that is well known for kitesurfing tourism, and this region is considered the world capital of kitesurfing.

Similarly, other reasons for choosing this location appear to be, according to information released by the company, the fact that it is a sparsely populated area (except for a small fishing village 4 km away), the distance from any type of tourist or natural area, and the proximity to a recently installed power grid.

Although the choice of location is not surprising in terms of geography or feasibility, what is new is that a data center will be built near the park for blockchain technology, associated with “bitcoin mining”. According to thepark promotersAn investment of 1.37 billion euros and a completion deadline of six years are planned for its development, which is still pending construction permits, and will generate 464 direct jobs.

As the company itself states on its website, this wind farm aims to be “the infrastructure that will serve as the backbone for the blockchain revolution.”