The discussion on "Advancing Mongolia's Energy Transition" was organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia /October 23, 2024/.
In this discussion, the US Ambassador to Mongolia, Richard L. Buangan, presented the opportunities of the country's renewable energy sector to support efforts to advance Mongolia's energy transition. After his speech, we asked about Mongolia's energy reform and the possibility of cooperation with the United States.
Can you give us information about the main topic of your speech?
35 years ago, and how we've been involved with helping Mongolia's energy needs advance alongside its democracy. And it's essentially going to be a call to action. It's going to be a call for the business community and for the government to really prioritize the need to embrace renewable energy here in Mongolia.
When you look at the potential that Mongolia has with solar, wind, and hydro, it's enormous.
It is really the only way forward to have a sustainable energy future. You look at the current state of affairs of Mongolia's energy situation, and thermal coal power plants built in the 60s and 70s. Many of them are past their lifetime. Many of them are expensive to maintain and emit dirty fossil fuels that are detrimental to the health of Mongolians whether it's here in UB or elsewhere. So that's certainly something that many in the foreign diplomatic community, the international community, have been encouraging Mongolian decision-makers to do. Many decision-makers in the Mongolian government certainly understand that. But it's really a call to action for both the Mongolian business community and the Mongolian government to embrace renewable energy so they can transform their energy grid, so it'll serve the next generation of Mongolians.
What do you think about Mongolian energy potential, especially in renewable energy?
When you look at the potential that Mongolia has with solar, wind, and hydro, it's enormous. If Mongolia were able to have technologies and build ways to harness these renewable energy sources, it would be able to not only power its country. But it would also be able to be an energy exporter to other countries on the Asian continent. That's a significant shift. So instead of being energy dependent, it can be energy independent, but also an energy exporter. I think that Mongolia has incredible energy potential.
Do we have any possibility to cooperate with the USA in any energy field?
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's one of the things that we want to start talking about. We're already starting to engage in conversations with the Mongolian government and the Mongolian business community on how the United States government and the United States business community can cooperate. And when I say cooperate, I mean doing this as partners. It's where we help build Mongolia's capacity, where we train Mongolia's engineers and energy experts to find ways where they can transform their energy grid. And I think that that's going to be not just a government partnership, but also a private sector partnership, where both private sectors of the United States and Mongolia can come together and find ways to explore new technologies, enter into the market space where companies can profit and lend its hand to build out Mongolia's energy infrastructure.
It might be a third MCC project.
So, I see very much this being a collaboration between the United States and Mongolia and other international partners whether it's Europe with the EPRD or the European Union or Canada or other countries, they're all willing to lend a hand in helping Mongolia's energy grid transform.
You already heard that the Russians have proposed to build a nuclear power plant in Mongolia. Please share your thoughts about that.
I know that Mongolia has been talking to other countries about energy cooperation and is very aware that they're talking to the Russians. Mongolia certainly has to make its sovereign decisions based on the interests of its people and based on its own national interests. One of the things that is powerful about its third neighbor policy is that it has the ability to engage with partners whether they're their neighbors or whether they're not their neighbors. And it has to be able to choose and have the freedom to do both. So, whether they are establishing a uranium deal with France, which they recently did, or solar plants or solar renewable energy projects with another third neighbor or neighbor, it should have the freedom to do so. That's based on its sovereignty. It shouldn't be limited because it only has two neighbors.
Our public electricity energy price will be raised. So how do you see the rumored price increase of thermal energy for households and companies?
Yes. we're very much aware of the Mongolian government's plans for tariffs. We hope that they'll be able to do it responsibly and fairly that does not, it looks out and protects Mongolia's population, and it also looks out for the consumers and for the regular citizens who will have to absorb this cost. And we hope the Mongolian government will be able to do this in a transparent manner, so that way it doesn't provide an enormous shock to Mongolia's population, to Mongolia's economy. But I want to say that this is something that Mongolia has to do. And it has to deal with the issue of energy tariffs because at the moment the artificial price of coal, of its current electricity, is not sustainable. It's not viable.
I think that when we look at what the potential could be, we could share our best practices.
And if Mongolia is going to attract more investment in renewable energy, it has to be able to be competitive with all of the other energy sources, including thermal coal, of which it is getting a subsidy through these energy tariffs. So we think that's a good thing. We just hope that the government will be able to implement these tariff reforms in a way that seeks private sector input, gets public input, and does it in a fair and transparent manner.
But in the other hand, what do you think about how the US handles this announcement of an increase of the energy price in the USA?
The United States, it varies from state to state that actually invests in that actually imports electricity. A lot of them are investing more in renewables, like my home state of California. And in order to do that, they have to have a fair playing field for all. So, they're very mindful of government involvement in the energy sector. So while it's important because the government has to play a responsible role in providing that level playing field, it's in the United States as well.
It's something that I think we can share our experiences with Mongolia. Today talked about that the United States is also dealing with the situation on coal and thermal energy. So, it's a problem that we're dealing with as well. And we also have enormous political conversations among politicians and decision makers in the business community about how much to invest in renewable energy. There are a lot of Americans that don't believe it's as powerful as it is. So, this is a conversation that we all share with other democracies around the world. So, I think that when we look at what the potential could be, we could share our best practices. The United States does have issues with energy prices. Mongolia has the same. We can use our opportunities to share this and then involve others. I think Mongolia can do it because it's a necessary reform that it has to be done.
Do you see the third Millennium Challenge Compact being in the energy sector?
We are really proud of the investment that we're making through our Millennium Challenge Corporation. We're investing $463 million. This project that will create an advanced water filtration facility is a Mongolian-U.S. partnership where we are uh putting in money both of us. It's going to be transformative when it's completed and fully operational it's going to increase the access to clean water in the city of UV by 80 percent which means 1.5 million residents of UB will have access to clean water. And it's an important investment that they need to make because Mongolia's clean water is drying up. So, I hope that this will be an opportunity to possibly find other ways where the future is unknown.
It might be a third MCC project. It could be another project that's financed by another U.S. government financial institution like DFC or Exim Bank, but there are other things that we could do to help Mongolia invest in these big public infrastructure projects, like what MCC is doing with the advanced water filtration plant.
Thank you for your time.
The discussion on "Advancing Mongolia's Energy Transition" was organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia /October 23, 2024/.
In this discussion, the US Ambassador to Mongolia, Richard L. Buangan, presented the opportunities of the country's renewable energy sector to support efforts to advance Mongolia's energy transition. After his speech, we asked about Mongolia's energy reform and the possibility of cooperation with the United States.
Can you give us information about the main topic of your speech?
35 years ago, and how we've been involved with helping Mongolia's energy needs advance alongside its democracy. And it's essentially going to be a call to action. It's going to be a call for the business community and for the government to really prioritize the need to embrace renewable energy here in Mongolia.
When you look at the potential that Mongolia has with solar, wind, and hydro, it's enormous.
It is really the only way forward to have a sustainable energy future. You look at the current state of affairs of Mongolia's energy situation, and thermal coal power plants built in the 60s and 70s. Many of them are past their lifetime. Many of them are expensive to maintain and emit dirty fossil fuels that are detrimental to the health of Mongolians whether it's here in UB or elsewhere. So that's certainly something that many in the foreign diplomatic community, the international community, have been encouraging Mongolian decision-makers to do. Many decision-makers in the Mongolian government certainly understand that. But it's really a call to action for both the Mongolian business community and the Mongolian government to embrace renewable energy so they can transform their energy grid, so it'll serve the next generation of Mongolians.
What do you think about Mongolian energy potential, especially in renewable energy?
When you look at the potential that Mongolia has with solar, wind, and hydro, it's enormous. If Mongolia were able to have technologies and build ways to harness these renewable energy sources, it would be able to not only power its country. But it would also be able to be an energy exporter to other countries on the Asian continent. That's a significant shift. So instead of being energy dependent, it can be energy independent, but also an energy exporter. I think that Mongolia has incredible energy potential.
Do we have any possibility to cooperate with the USA in any energy field?
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's one of the things that we want to start talking about. We're already starting to engage in conversations with the Mongolian government and the Mongolian business community on how the United States government and the United States business community can cooperate. And when I say cooperate, I mean doing this as partners. It's where we help build Mongolia's capacity, where we train Mongolia's engineers and energy experts to find ways where they can transform their energy grid. And I think that that's going to be not just a government partnership, but also a private sector partnership, where both private sectors of the United States and Mongolia can come together and find ways to explore new technologies, enter into the market space where companies can profit and lend its hand to build out Mongolia's energy infrastructure.
It might be a third MCC project.
So, I see very much this being a collaboration between the United States and Mongolia and other international partners whether it's Europe with the EPRD or the European Union or Canada or other countries, they're all willing to lend a hand in helping Mongolia's energy grid transform.
You already heard that the Russians have proposed to build a nuclear power plant in Mongolia. Please share your thoughts about that.
I know that Mongolia has been talking to other countries about energy cooperation and is very aware that they're talking to the Russians. Mongolia certainly has to make its sovereign decisions based on the interests of its people and based on its own national interests. One of the things that is powerful about its third neighbor policy is that it has the ability to engage with partners whether they're their neighbors or whether they're not their neighbors. And it has to be able to choose and have the freedom to do both. So, whether they are establishing a uranium deal with France, which they recently did, or solar plants or solar renewable energy projects with another third neighbor or neighbor, it should have the freedom to do so. That's based on its sovereignty. It shouldn't be limited because it only has two neighbors.
Our public electricity energy price will be raised. So how do you see the rumored price increase of thermal energy for households and companies?
Yes. we're very much aware of the Mongolian government's plans for tariffs. We hope that they'll be able to do it responsibly and fairly that does not, it looks out and protects Mongolia's population, and it also looks out for the consumers and for the regular citizens who will have to absorb this cost. And we hope the Mongolian government will be able to do this in a transparent manner, so that way it doesn't provide an enormous shock to Mongolia's population, to Mongolia's economy. But I want to say that this is something that Mongolia has to do. And it has to deal with the issue of energy tariffs because at the moment the artificial price of coal, of its current electricity, is not sustainable. It's not viable.
I think that when we look at what the potential could be, we could share our best practices.
And if Mongolia is going to attract more investment in renewable energy, it has to be able to be competitive with all of the other energy sources, including thermal coal, of which it is getting a subsidy through these energy tariffs. So we think that's a good thing. We just hope that the government will be able to implement these tariff reforms in a way that seeks private sector input, gets public input, and does it in a fair and transparent manner.
But in the other hand, what do you think about how the US handles this announcement of an increase of the energy price in the USA?
The United States, it varies from state to state that actually invests in that actually imports electricity. A lot of them are investing more in renewables, like my home state of California. And in order to do that, they have to have a fair playing field for all. So, they're very mindful of government involvement in the energy sector. So while it's important because the government has to play a responsible role in providing that level playing field, it's in the United States as well.
It's something that I think we can share our experiences with Mongolia. Today talked about that the United States is also dealing with the situation on coal and thermal energy. So, it's a problem that we're dealing with as well. And we also have enormous political conversations among politicians and decision makers in the business community about how much to invest in renewable energy. There are a lot of Americans that don't believe it's as powerful as it is. So, this is a conversation that we all share with other democracies around the world. So, I think that when we look at what the potential could be, we could share our best practices. The United States does have issues with energy prices. Mongolia has the same. We can use our opportunities to share this and then involve others. I think Mongolia can do it because it's a necessary reform that it has to be done.
Do you see the third Millennium Challenge Compact being in the energy sector?
We are really proud of the investment that we're making through our Millennium Challenge Corporation. We're investing $463 million. This project that will create an advanced water filtration facility is a Mongolian-U.S. partnership where we are uh putting in money both of us. It's going to be transformative when it's completed and fully operational it's going to increase the access to clean water in the city of UV by 80 percent which means 1.5 million residents of UB will have access to clean water. And it's an important investment that they need to make because Mongolia's clean water is drying up. So, I hope that this will be an opportunity to possibly find other ways where the future is unknown.
It might be a third MCC project. It could be another project that's financed by another U.S. government financial institution like DFC or Exim Bank, but there are other things that we could do to help Mongolia invest in these big public infrastructure projects, like what MCC is doing with the advanced water filtration plant.
Thank you for your time.