Elecnor wins contract to build its second Wind Farm in Mauritania

Elecnor is to build its second turnkey wind farm in Boulenouar (Mauritania) for Société Mauritanienne d´Électricité (SOMELEC) on a EUR 122 million project for an installed capac-ity of 100 MW.

The Boulenouar Wind Farm at Dakhlet Nouâdhibou is funded by the Arab Fund for Eco-nomic and Social Development (AFESD), and will be built in a consortium with Siemens-Gamesa Renewable Energy, which will supply 39 SG 2.6-114 wind turbines.

Elecnor will be responsible for engineering work, construction and start-up of the wind farm in an EPC ("turnkey") format, and the project also includes a substation and the me-dium-voltage power line. A further operation and maintenance services contract (O&M) was also signed for a period of 11 years. The construction timeline has been set as the last quarter of 2019.

Mauritania has several hundred kilometres of shoreline with considerable wind power po-tential. The level of solar radiation in Mauritania is also one of the world's highest. It is for this reason that for several years this member of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States has been making renewable energies part of its national power mix to meet domestic demand for electricity, and export the surplus to neighbouring countries.

Elecnor established a stable presence in the country in 2012, thereby further strengthen-ing its longstanding links with the African continent. Since then, it has further cemented its operations by carrying out a number of major projects such as the Nouakchott wind farm (the country's first), a solar PV plant in Zouerate and the R+15 building, also in the capital.