Aftissat () is a fishing village in the
Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a territorial dispute, disputed territory in Maghreb, North-western Africa. It has a surface area of . Approximately 30% of the territory () is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR); the remaining 70% is ...
. It is the location of a large onshore wind farm.
Location
Aftissat is on the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
coast in
Boujdour Province
Boujdour Province () is a province in the Moroccan occupied region of Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra, Western Sahara. Its population in 2004 was 46,129. Its major town is Boujdour.
Its territory, which is part of Western Sahara claimed by both Morocco ...
of the Western Sahara.
The village is on National Road No. 1, in the section that links the cities of
Boujdour
Boujdour (or Bujdur, Bojador, , ) is a city in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, near Cape Bojador.
It is de facto administered by Morocco, which includes it in the administrative division of the Southern Provinces.
It is an urban municipa ...
and
Dakhla, 63 km southwest of Boujdour and 286 km northeast of Dakhla.
It belongs to the
Jraifia commune in the Boujdour province of the Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra region.
Origins
The village of Aftissat was established in 2005 as part of a development program of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, aimed at establishing fishermen's villages and equipped ports along the Moroccan coast, in order to strengthen the marine fishing sector and revive traditional fishing.
It is one of four fishing villages in the Boujdour province, the others being Lacraa,
Agti el Ghazi (اكطً الغازي) and
Port Boujdour (مٌناء بوجدور).
Facilities and infrastructure
Avtisat has one fish market, 30 stores for fish trading and 204 stores for sailors, as well as a box store and an engine repair workshop.
The village has 635 boats for traditional fishing.
Wind farm
The Astissat wind farm was built by Energie Eolienne du Maroc (EEM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Nareva
Nareva is an energy company in Morocco wholly owned by Al Mada, the holding company of King Mohammed VI.
Activities
Renewables
The company has multiple wind farm projects. The units in Akhenfir, Haouma and Foum El Oued, with a capacity of 1 ...
.
It has 56 Siemens wind turbines with nominal power of 3.6MW, and delivers 201.6MW, or 1,000GWh per year.
Windhoist was responsible for erecting the turbines.
The project cost was estimated as $391 million.
The project included construction of the 400kV power line from
Laayoune
Laayoune or El Aaiún (, Latn, ar, al-ʕuyūn , , ) is the largest city of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, with a population of 271,344 in 2023. The city is the ''de jure'' capital of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, though it ...
to Aftissat.
This is a stage in connecting
Dakhla, which is further south, to the Moroccan grid.
Commercial operations began in October 2018.
The wind farm delivers energy over the national VHV/HV network to large industrial consumers.
Customers mentioned in a December 2016 statement by Nareva included LafargeHolcim Maroc, OCP, Ciments du Maroc, Sonasid, Managem, la Snep and Air Liquide Maroc.
Both the EU Court of Justice and the UN Human Rights Council have said that the consent of representatives of the people of Western Sahara is required for a project like this.
This requirement does not seem to have been met.
The issue was raised in a question to the EU parliament.
The response was that the EU would respond to questions about exploitation of natural resources by pointing out the unresolved legal status of Western Sahara.
In September 2021
GE Renewable Energy
GE Renewable Energy was a manufacturing and services division of the American company General Electric. It is headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris, France and focuses on the production of energy systems that use renewable sources. It ...
announced that EEM had selected it to supply 40 onshore wind turbines to power a 200MW extension to the Aftissat onshore wind farm.
The Cypress turbines will be moderated at 5.0MW, and will have rotors with a diameter.
The project was expected to come into operation in 2023.
Following the expansion the Aftissat wind farm would be the largest in Morocco.
Notes
Citations
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aftissat
Populated places in Western Sahara
Wind farms in Morocco