GE Supplies Mongolia’s First Wind Farm

GE has signed an agreement with Mongolia’s investment company Newcom to provide wind turbines for a US$100 million project outside Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar.

The Salkhit Wind Farm will have an initial installed capacity of 50 megawatts and will feed into Mongolia’s Central Energy System, according to a company statement. GE will supply 30 of its 1.6-MW wind turbines that will have an 82.5 meter rotor and 80 meter hub height. The project is scheduled to become operational in 2012.

Energy demand in Mongolia is expected to double by 2015. In 2005, Mongolia’s parliament approved the National Renewable Energy Program, which aims to increase the country’s renewable energy share to 20-25 percent by 2020. Mongolia’s current installed capacity is roughly 800 megawatts.