The 55MW Sainshand wind farm in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert has entered commercial operation.
The country’s largest online wind farm, located in Dornogobi province 450km south-east of Ulaanbaatar, will be capable of generating around 200 gigawatt hours of electricity annually.
Vestas supplied 25 of its V110 2.0MW turbines, optimised to 2.2MW.
The company is also servicing the wind farm for 15 years, which is operated by French utility Engie.
Sainshand will help reduce the country’s carbon emissions, while meeting increased power demand, and will also support government efforts to ensure renewables account for 20% of Mongolia’s energy mix by 2020.
European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provided long-term financing.
Mott MacDonald is lenders’ technical, environmental and social advisor to the EIB, the EBRD and EKF, Denmark’s Export Credit Agency.
The UK engineering consultancy performed technical, environmental and social due diligence during the project’s financing stage to help the scheme achieve financial close, followed by construction monitoring services.
Areas of focus included grid integration, logistics planning, suitability of the wind turbines for the local climate, review of working conditions and worker accommodation facilities on site and mitigation of impact on local biodiversity and displacement of local nomadic households.
Mott MacDonald will monitor operations in an ongoing role.
Mott MacDonald project manager Robin Ingram said: “It’s great to see that tough winters and harsh desert conditions haven’t stopped the project team from delivering Sainshand ahead of schedule, thus supporting Mongolia’s renewable energy targets.”