Mongolia has lots of solar and wind energy resources and when I meant
being a lot I mean it's abundant resources that is enough to power all
of Asia the world is rushing to mine the vast deposits of coal under Mongolia
but here in the land of Genghis Khan a wind energy revolution is also underway
the use of renewable energy in Mongolia it is fairly widespread but on very
small scales they use it at the household level they use solar panels very
often and occasionally small-scale wind turbines but the Salkia wind farm is the
first commercial renewable energy project in the country the first wind farm
in this traditionally nomadic country is just weeks from completion this summer
31 wind turbines will go into action in an area known in Mongolia as Windy Hill
the reason why we are building Mongolia's first wind farm is because we
have a vision to transform Mongolia into a clean energy powerhouse of the
region eight years ago when we started off with this wind farm project people
probably thought we were crazy but now again we are making a reality so this is
where we're building the Salkia wind farm we're about 70 kilometers southeast
of the capital city of Alambatar as you can see it's you know beautiful rolling
countryside the Mongolian steppe
Mongolia is growing rapidly and it's becoming increasingly dependent on
fossil fuels in winter Ulaanbaatar is now the world's most polluted city clean
energy project for a city like UB again we have 1.5 million customers in the
city well is really one of the real solutions to the problem the turbines
soon to be in use in Salkia have been specifically chosen to withstand Mongolia's
extreme winter conditions where temperatures regularly dropped to minus
40 degrees on the site there will be 31 turbines there are 1.6 megawatt
turbines built by General Electric very simply put these are custom-made
turbines which means that these turbines are made to withstand the
temperature and also the harsh wind conditions during those times
though fossil fuels are pouring billions of dollars into the economy the
people of Mongolia increasingly realizing the importance of clean energy
Mongolia and the Mongolian government is very much supportive of renewable
energy and there is a national target to reach 25 percent by 2020 right now we
have we are providing about five percent of that sustainability is even more
important in a country where herders have long needed to remain in balance with
nature I think our way of life traditionally has been life that is
that lives in harmony with the environment this project definitely is
gives us that sense of harmony but at the same time we are again introducing
one of the most modern and efficient technology into Mongolia following
construction this this entire area the 7,000 hectares will continue to be
freely used by by the Mongolian nomadic herders as grazing land while the
soul kit site is just one small wind farm it is likely to be the first of
many sites that could eventually power the whole of the country and beyond
currently our company is developing wind farms and 260,000 hectares of land in
Mongolia you've got large expanses of land you've got more than 300 days
per annum of sunlight and fairly constant wind so it has basically the
perfect trifecta for renewable energy in the world reporting from the Mongolian
grasslands this is Kit Gillett and Jonah Kessel for Global Post
