The Mongolian government has signed loan agreements with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) worth a total of US$85.6 million, part of which will be used to deploy batteries in developing the country’s first distributed renewable energy system.
The $40m ADB renewable energy loan will be supplemented by $14.6m from the Strategic Climate Fund and $6m from the Japan Fund for the Joint Crediting Mechanism; Mongolia’s government will contribute $5.6m to the project.
This aggregate $66.2m will develop a 41-megawatt distributed renewable energy system, the first of its kind in Mongolia. This system will combine solar PV and wind power with ‘advanced battery storage technology’ and will “result in the supply of clean and reliable electricity to about 260,000 people in remote and less-developed towns in western Mongolia, who currently rely on high-cost and high-polluting carbon-intensive electricity.”
Some of the ADB loan will be used to improve tax administration and public investment management by establishing an ICT system.
ADB declined to comment on the battery storage technology and capacity to be deployed when contacted by BEST Battery Briefing.
ADB country director for Mongolia Fernandez Lommen said: “These projects will support the government’s efforts to raise the share of renewable energy, decrease carbon dioxide emissions, and improve public financial resource mobilisation and management.”
In July, the ADB approved a multi-million dollar package to finance the leasing and purchasing of ‘green’ electric buses in China.