Mongolia’s electricity and heating sectors face numerous challenges: reliance on coal-fired plants and an antiquated infrastructure that struggles to meet demand. Limited reserve capacity means the government often must import expensive power from Russia and China. The coal industry’s outsized influence has hindered adoption of what would be bountiful renewable energy thanks to the country’s abundant solar and wind resources. More people are burning cheap, dirty coal for heat in informal settlements in the urban capital, contributing to some of the world’s worst air quality and poor health outcomes.
Mongolia’s potential to harness renewable energy and its government’s goal of becoming an energy exporter provide a fertile opportunity to advance energy reforms and attract international investors. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched the Abt-led Mongolia Energy Governance (MEG) activity in 2022 to build broad coalitions around politically sensitive reforms and promote self-reliance in Mongolia by bolstering energy sector governance.
MEG promotes a secure, stable, diversified, modern, and self-reliant energy sector through improved governance. We work with government and energy sector partners to increase market competitiveness, provide incentives for private investment, increase resilience to natural and human-induced shocks (including cyberattacks), and support the adoption of modern clean energy technologies.
Among other things, we:
- Promote transfer of knowledge and tools to strengthen the use of data analysis in planning and in assessing operational performance
- Enhance the government’s capacity to issue and award transparent procurements to diversify the investment portfolio and move toward a market-based sector
- Support a well-functioning, competitive energy sector to increase customer choices, improve service quality, increase energy security, maintain accountability for ratepayers, and build confidence among domestic and international financiers for advanced energy systems and technologies.
By 2030, Mongolia aims to become energy self-sufficient. By 2040, Mongolia would like to then export clean energy to neighboring countries in the region. Having achieved these important milestones, the country hopes to increase green energy production and ensure sustainable energy supply to the region by 2050.