Construction has begun on Mongolia’s first project financed by international project finance. Funding of $100m (€81m) was sourced from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and FMO, supported by Mott MacDonald as lender’s technical advisor.

The scheme is a major wind power project with 31 General Electric 1.6 XLE wind turbine generators giving a total capacity of 49.6MW which will be used to service customers connected to the Mongolian Central Grid. Construction is due to complete by the end of 2012.

Clare Rhodes-James, Project Director at Mott MacDonald commented: “This is a particularly challenging project as the Mongolian environment is quite extreme, with winter temperatures dropping to -50°C and summer temperatures rising to 50°C, while there can also be large diurnal temperature variations. The project is also the first renewable power project to connect to the Mongolian Grid, and represents an exciting challenge to the grid operator.”

Mott MacDonald has also announced that it will be acting as lender’s independent engineer on Yes Bank’s new luxury hotel in Kolkata, India. Developed by Fabworth Promoters Private Limited, the €104m scheme will also incorporate a number of serviced apartments and be managed by the JW Marriott Group.