Engie Develop Sainshand Wind Farm

French utility Engie are developing the Sainshand wind farm in the Gobi Desert, with the facility set to generate enough energy to serve the needs of 130,000 Mongolians.

The 55 MW wind power plant is the French company’s debut renewable project in Mongolia.

The Sainshand wind farm will have a total installed capacity of 55 MW. 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 $120m 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).

The project, located 280 miles southeast of Ulaanbaatar nearby Sainshand, complements the Mongolian’ government’s goal of generating 20 per cent of the country’s power by 2020, and 30 per cent by 2030.

“ENGIE’s ambition is to provide energy access-for-all 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.

“The European Investment Bank is committed to supporting climate-related investment across Asia and is pleased to support development of wind power in Mongolia, which provides an alternative to coal use,” said Jonathan Taylor, Vice President, European Investment Bank. “The Sainshand wind farm will use world-class technology and demonstrate that wind power can be successfully harnessed in remote regions facing a harsh climate.”

“Mongolia and the European Union are signatories of the Paris Climate Agreement and the new Sainshand wind farm shows the close partnership between Europe and Mongolia to reduce carbon emissions through renewable energy,” added Hans-Dietmar Schweisgut, Ambassador, European Union to Mongolia. “European finance and technical expertise, working in close cooperation with Mongolian partners, demonstrate a shared ambition to harness wind from the Gobi Desert to tackle climate change.”