The American start-up Soluna Technologies, which supplies the block's global networks with renewable energies, is mobilising funds to launch the construction works of a 900 MW wind farm in Dahkla in Western Sahara, a North African territory under Moroccan domination. The works, which will start in 2021, are being carried out in partnership with AM Wind.
The wind power project of the start-up Soluna Technologies should soon enter a new phase in Morocco. John Belizaire, the managing director of the young American company has announced the financial mobilisation for the start of construction work in mid-2021. This announcement follows the approval of the wind power project by the Moroccan Ministry of Energy. Soluna has also just completed studies on the technical and environmental feasibility of the wind power project, known as “Harmattan”. According to Soluna, this stage required an investment of $10 million.
The future wind farm, with a capacity of 900 MW, will be built in several phases over a period of 6 years. The electricity produced by this facility will be used to power the data centres dedicated to providing computing capacity to the blockchain’s global networks. This energy-intensive system is the basis for the operation of electronic coins like Bitcoin.
“We will connect the wind farm with high-capacity computing facilities to support and enable next-generation breakthroughs in the blockchain,” says Soluna. The main mission of the start-up, founded in 2018, is to power the blockchain with clean, low-cost energy via “the world’s first vertically integrated, daisy-chained IT company”. The company is backed by private equity firm Brookstone Partners. In the first phase of the Soluna wind project, 36 MW of electricity will be produced to power data centres at a cost of $100 million.
An overall investment of $2.5 billion
The Soluna wind farm will also create 400 jobs. The future facility will be built on a 55,442-hectare site in Dahkla in Western Sahara, a North African territory under Moroccan rule. “The site has the potential for a wind farm of 180 turbines. It also has several other advantages, including strong winds all year round (miles per hour). The land is also sparsely populated with only one fishing village (the village of Ntireft), away from any protected natural or tourist areas, yet close to a newly constructed electricity grid.
Soluna will implement its wind power project in collaboration with AM Wind, a subsidiary of the German company Altus AG, which offers clean energy solutions. The whole work will cost around 2.5 million dollars.
Inès Magoum
