Sharp Corporation announced the completion of a 16.4 MW solar power project in Mongolia. The project, financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), is located in the Khushig valley, in Tuv aimag (province), 14 km southwest of the New Ulaanbaatar International Airport, which is now under construction.

The solar plant is expected to provide with electricity the new airport and urban parts of Ulaanbaatar, Sharp said in a press release. The project was built with the support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the frame of the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) Model Projects scheme of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, which provides financial supports covering up to half of the initial investment costs.

The project is owned by Sermsang Power (SSP) and Tenuun Gerel Construction (TGC), which are backed by Bangkok-based Sermsang Power and Sharp’s unit Sharp Energy Solutions, in addition to two Mongolian companies.

Sharp also completed another 16.5 MW (DC) array in Zamyn Uud, Dornogovi aimag last year and another 10 MW plant in the country‘s second largest city Darkhan. Earlier this year, the Green Climate Fund and Mongolia’s XacBank announced the completion of a 10 MW solar plant in Govisümber aimag.

Mongolia in 2014 tried to implement a FIT scheme for solar which proved unsuccessful, with payments of $0.15-0.18/kWh. A year later, it amended a renewable energy law to replace the fixed payment feed-in tariffs with feed-in premiums – added on top of the market energy price – with the new payments dubbed the “encouraging tariff” by the authorities. At the same time, the government improved regulation for power purchase agreements.

Mongolia’s total installed PV capacity stood at just 63.0 MW at the end of 2018, according to statistics from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). New PV additions for last year totaled 15 MW, while in 2017 and 2016 newly deployed solar capacity had reached 33 MW and 10 MW, respectively.