Issues of small scale renewable energy systems installed in rural Soum centres in Mongolia

• Many renewable energy systems installed at rural Soum centres in Mongolia were experienced a number of technical and non-technical problems.
• A detailed load demand and resource analysis are required to reduce the failure of the system
• Selection of equipment is very important in such a harsh climatic zone

In Mongolia, 43% of the total population lives in remote areas where supplying sufficient electricity through the existing grid is difficult due to terrain. The Mongolian government intends to utilize renewable energy systems to supply electricity in these areas and, as a first stage, financed 12 renewable energy hybrid systems but these systems failed to operate as planned. These projects are evaluated in this study based on government documents and other research reports and it is found that most of these systems are unsuccessful in providing the required services. The lessons learned from the failed installations are documented in this paper. Local technician training and user education is also important as technology transfer is very important for remote area systems. The research reveals the fact that introducing new technology does not solve a problem. To reduce the chance of failure, proper sizing and quality equipment selection are very important in such a harsh climatic zone. The results of the analysis show that inadequate attention was given to sizing the system, which led to customer dissatisfaction and unwillingness to pay.