Ulaanbaatar Thermal Power Plant No. 5

The Ulaanbaatar Thermal Power Plant No. 5 (which is also referred to as CHP-5) is a 4-500 megawatt (MW) coal-fired combined heat and power station proposed to be built on the eastern side of the city. The projected cost is $US650 million. In a May 2008 briefing on energy developments in Mongolia, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy stated that "the international bidding is planned to be announced in the near future."

Background
In a July 2010 presentation, a Mongolian government official stated that the current heating demand in Ulaanbaatar was only marginally than demand while electricity generation capacity is 690 megawatts while peak demand in 2010 reached 711 MW. He also explained that the small existing combined heat and power stations, the 21 MW CHP‐2, the 48MW CHP-3 are old and will be "out aged by 2015". He also projected that by 2020 heat demand will increase substantially and electricity demand grow by 700 MW. "These factors show that there will shortage of heat and electricity capacity in UB [Ulaanbaatar] from 2011 and necessity of construction CHP‐5," he argued.

For its part, the Asian Development Bank noted that the proposal was most likely to be for a 300 MW owned and operated by a private operator. "The government will allocate the land and determine coal standards for the plant operations. Whether the prices at which the GoM will buy the outputs would justify investment (estimated cost is 1 million USD per 1 MW of capacity109) remains to be seen," the ADB stated.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Mongolia and coal