Wind Farm in Mongolia
Reposted from the UB Post
By B. Byambadorj
The Mongolian Power 2012: Sustainable Energy, Investment and Technology international conference was organized and hosted by the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy and held in Chinggis Khaan Hotel on May 15th – 16th. This conference is part of the 90th Anniversary of the Mongolian mining sector.
Legal background, jurisdiction, laws and policies on the Mongolian energy sector, sustainable energy, green economy and the participation of the private sector within the industry along with investment partnership opportunities and concerns were openly discussed at the conference.
The international forum “Mongolian Power-2012” started yesterday, on May 15, at the Chinggis Khaan Hotel, in Ulaanbaatar.
The Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy held a very optimistic view on Mongolia’s future in energy, noting that Mongolia is home to a large amounts of energy resources from coal to the windy steppes and many new power plants are due to be built–such as the new 450 megawatt thermal power plant to be in operation by 2015. In the near future, three more plants will be built each with 600 megawatts of capacity, located in the proximity of UB and around the central area of Mongolia.
“Power and energy sources are facing new challenges as we struggle to develop and expand both our infrastructure and mining industry,” Minister D. Zorigt says. “We are organizing this conference with an aim to improve and assist the energy sector in its current issues. We will improve our environmentally friendly energy production to further encourage investors and private enterprises to invest in this field,” he said, emphasizing the production of wind power in Mongolia.
According to D. Zorigt, a major problem faced by investors in the Mongolian energy sector is the set price of energy distribution, controlled and maintained by the Government. He says that the Government will take considerable measures to liberalize energy distribution prices.
Ts. Tsengel, a policy maker, said that the energy sector will enjoy steady growth if certain policy constraints are resolved. In order to deal with the debts accumulated between coal mines and thermal energy plants, the Government is taking measures, such as providing funding support to make sure that power generating companies are financially capable of running their operations.
As said during the conference, Mongolia is aiming to make the renewable energy output account for 20% to 25% of its total energy production by the year 2020. It is known that Mongolia has high potential for production capacity of electricity generated by wind turbines due to its vast steppes, and with nearly 300 days of sun, Mongolia is also very suitable for producing solar energy.
The conference included representatives from around 90 domestic and foreign investors, companies, organizations and institutions, such as the Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, United Nations Development Program, JICA, KOICA, GTZ-German Technical Cooperation, MCS International NewCom Group, Hythro Power Corp., Prophecy Coal Corp., Mitsui & Co and Marubeni Corp.
Photo Credit: Google Images
