REACH

TA 3965-MON: Renewable Energy Development in Small Towns and Rural Areas

Purpose

Scope

1. Formulate an RE policy and study existing RE use in Mongolia;
2. Finance an RE exhibit in Ulaanbaatar;
3. Develop a campaign for mainstreaming RE in rural areas;
4. Select appropriate technology from the exhibit, if possible, and design pilot projects for wind-diesel or solar-diesel hybrid systems - two sources of power that complement each other to supply schools and hospitals in village areas;
5. Implement pilot projects and periodically monitor technical performance and reliability of hybrid systems for a year;
6. Publish results of monitoring;
7. Analyze options for possible private sector participation by way of maintenance contracts for maintaining diesel and hybrid systems for the whole region;
8. Develop leasing options by packaging existing subsidies and other sources to develop a single tariff solution for installing hybrid systems in schools and hospitals.

Status

• Energy surveys and data collection is completed in the southern soum centers.
• The National Renewable Energy Policy Workshop for Rural Areas was held on 7-8 September 2004 in Ulaanbaatar. In conjunction with the workshop, an exhibit of renewable energy and energy efficiency equipment was also held. An ADB Review Mission fielded from 6-15 September 2004 was present to lend support to these initiatives. Both activities were highly successful in terms of participation of relevant entities and end results.
• Two pilot projects - one a PV-diesel hybrid system supplying electricity to a Soum center, and the other a wind-diesel hybrid system supplying electricity to a hospital are being implemented and under observation.
• In May 2005, two high-level government officials involved in policy making participated in a Study Tour held in some European countries.
• A review mission was fielded from 27 - 30 May 2005 to visit the project sites and assess the overall implementation progress and attainment of project objectives. It was determined that the local folks are highly appreciative of the project's positive contribution to the local community.
• Since the final statement of expenses is to be submitted after acceptance of the Final Report, the completion date of the TA was extended to 31 December 2005 to enable the consultant to monitor the worthiness of the project and sustainability of the project's impact to the community and undertake further awareness building and training of soum centers.