The 55MW Sainshand wind farm, located in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, has successfully entered commercial operation. Mott MacDonald is lenders’ technical, environmental and social advisor to the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and EKF Denmark’s Export Credit Agency on the project.
The wind farm will be capable of generating approximately 200GWh of electricity per year, enough to power around 100,000 households. The project will lead to a potential reduction of more than 200 thousand tons of CO2 emissions annually.
Mott MacDonald 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. Particular attention was given to country-specific challenges including 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. The consultancy will now monitor operations in an ongoing role.
Robin Ingram, Mott MacDonald's project manager, 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."