ENGIE Enters Mongolia with 55MW Wind Farm

By Anca Gagiuc

French utility ENGIE will build and operate the Sainshand wind farm in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. The project marks the company’s first renewable wind development in the country.

The Sainshand wind farm will have a total installed capacity of 55 megawatts and will generate sufficient energy to serve the needs of 130,000 people in Mongolia. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer and will be overseen by Tractebel, ENGIE’s engineering arm. Commissioning of the facility is anticipated in the second half of 2018.

For the development of the wind plant, a $120 million financing package was facilitated by a group of international investors and financial institutions organized by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Once operational, the project will add to Mongolia’s renewable capacity and support the government’s renewable energy goal, which is to have 20 percent of all power sourced from renewable energy by 2020 and 30 percent of all power by 2030.

More than green energy

In addition, the wind facility, located 280 miles southeast of Ulaanbaatar nearby Sainshand, the capital of Dornogobi Province, will boost the local and national economy through job creation and fiscal contributions.

“ENGIE’s ambition is to provide energy access-for-all (sic) through clean and renewable energy sources, especially to developing communities. Mongolia is facing an energy challenge due to increasing demand from industrialization and urbanization. As our first renewable energy project in Mongolia, ENGIE’s investment in the Sainshand wind farm is consistent with our vision of leading the global energy transition, and the drive for decarbonization will significantly contribute to powering the country’s energy needs in a sustainable way,” Paul Maguire, CEO of ENGIE Asia-Pacific, said in a prepared statement.