2. EXCLUSIVE CONTRI BUTED ARTICLE
FOR FORBES MONGOLIA
-
MONGOLIAS
ENERGYELEPHANT
KEVIN TRZCINSKI
ny focused on bringing foreign investment
into Mongolia. With a Liberal Arts degree
in Finance, Mr. Trzcinski,s education in_
cluded international programs at Oxford
University, Kyoto University. as well as
completing The California Maritime Acad_
emy's course for Merchant Marine Offi_
cers . His career has spanned Asia, most
notably in the media industry in Hong
Kong. On the founding team of STAR
TV in Hong Kong, Kevin helped launch
the original five television channels as
the pan-Asian network launched region-
ally. He later became Group publisher
of a publishing company in Hong Kong,
producing eleven annual books and one
monthly magazine about the media indus_
ky in Asia, ultimately selling the company.
A single father with two young sons whom
are living in California, Kevin resides per_
manently in Ulaanbaatar.
kevin@mnu. edu. mn
breathe air that is full of hannful par_
ticulates. The effects of this u." ."_
flected in the high numbers of health
related issues. Of course, tl-rere is aiso
a financial cost in keeping tip rvith tl-re
growing energy demand - whether it
is improving infrastructure efficiencv
or irrcreasing capaci rv.
This problem is u,hat is keeping
the Ministry of Energy busy _ t.1ri"[
to figure out the best way fo.*r.J
for Mongolia to responsibly meet the
growing energy dernands. The ques_
tion in determinir-rg the best cou.se of
action is huge, and I do not envy their
task one bit, as there are so manv
things to consider. The bigger ques_
tion is who will finance Mongolia,s
energy needs. Mongolia,s vast natu_
ral resources could finance develop_
ment of a state of the art transmission
grid to meet the increasing domestic
needs, at the same time,putting Mon_
golia in a position to become an en_
ergy exporter - but Mongolia needs
Foreign Direct Investment to realize
this goal.
From a national security issue,
globally more countries are recog_
nizing the increasing importance Jf
energ:y independence. Without stir-
ring a diplomatic pot, it is a fair ob_
servation that the current situation in
the Ukraine is a good example of how
energy can be used as a political and/
or a financial tool. Mongolia must
achieve and maintain energy inde_
pendence, again the question is hour,
and who pays.
Last week, I attended the Interna_
tional Conference ..Energy
Mongolia
2OI4" thatwas sponsored bv the Vfin_
istry of Energy among others. It was
a great conference, and there were
many useful presentations and data
about the current situation with all
aspects of energy in Mongolia. pan_
elists discussed everlthing fiom coal
consumption, the rising cost of pro_
duction for both electricity and heat,
electricity transmission and con_
nectl
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Kevin Trzcinski is the Vice president of ln_
ternational Relations, Marketing & lnvest_
ment for Mongolian National University
and the Mongolian lnnovation & Technol-
ogy Center. ln Mongolia, he served in a
senior position for an investment compa_
With the rapid cleveiopment of
the N{onplolian economy and the fast
urbanization of Ulaanbaatar, it is
prettv clear to anyone r.r,ho has spent
any amount of time here, that the fast
pace of development has come at a
high soci:rl cost. Despite the giori_
ous ciear sunny da.vs of summer in
Mongolia, in the lvinter the skies are
grey and it is difficult to breathe. The
cntount of CO2 emissions per crpire
in Mongoli:r is increasing
"..".y
y"u.,
and so are the associated costs. All
residents ofUiaanbaatar are forced to
,16 I FORBESMONGOLIA :ilii,,{:ittri-
I
3. FOEBXSMONG*LL{
FORBES MONCOLTA CSTI-yyflt/t/H MOHTOn EAXb HililTfl3nL{ilfl
nectivity to the "super-grid", hydro
power, natural gas, and fuel cells. Nu-
merous other topics were covered as
well, but only minimal attention was
even given to the progress of wind,
solar electric and solar thermal tech-
nologies. I don't believe that anyone
is deluding themselves to think that
wind or solar power could solve all of
the problems facing Ulaanbaatar and
Mongolia, but certainly they could
make an impact.
This issue reminds me of an old
joke that goes: "How do you eat an el-
ephant?". The answer is "One bite at
a time". In this case, the "elephant"
is the growing energy problem out-
lined above. It would be a mistake
to think that there is only one way or
one technology that is going to fix the
entire problem. The solution will be
found in a combination of technolo-
gies, projects, and initiatives. Each
technology and each initiative reduc-
es the demand for burning coal. Each
kilowatt produced with clean energy
reduces C02 emissions. Each build-
ing that improves their own energy
efficiency, or supplements their pow-
er usage with green technology be-
comes part of the solution.
Many individuals or companies
from countries across the world look
to their respective governments to
solve all of their problems without
asking themselves - what can I do?
or what contributions can my orga-
nization make to solve the problems?
Mongolian companies like New-
com and their Salkhit Uul Wind park
are making a big difference for the en-
ergy future of Mongolia. Internation-
al companies like General Electric are
supplying not only the equipment but
the financing for clean energy proj-
ects. Engineering renewable energy
into the infrastructure of communi-
ties of the future, are being designed
by companies like Fluor Corporation
as they build the Sainshand Industri-
al Park. These are just a few exam-
ples of corporate social responsibility
in Mongolia.
Here at Mongolian National Uni-
versity and the Mongolian Innova-
tion and Technology Center, we are
constantly searching for solutions to
solve the energy issues of Mongolia.
We are looking for new technologies
to bring them here to Mongolia for
further research - to basically prove
that the technologies actually will
work here in Mongolia. Like other
academic institutions in Mongolia,
Mongolian National University is do-
ing its part to contribute proven solu-
tions.
Our biggest success so far here at
Mongolian National University has
been in working on a high tempera-
ture solar thermal technology devel-
oped by the University of California -
UC Solar. This technology generates
heat in the range of200-300. degrees
Celsius. The practical applications,
beyond heating single family units,
include wastewater treatment, agri-
culture, and industrial uses. The goal
for the technology is to make a differ-
ence building by building and ger by
ger.
What we have learned so far is
that there is no "off the shelf" solu-
tion. Even though a technology
works elsewhere in the world, oper-
ationally there are usually elements
that need to be adjusted and tweaked
- ultimately resulting in a technology
that really "fits" the unique climate
and operational challenges of Mon-
golia.
Indeed there are challenges ahead
to solve the energy problem in Mon-
golia. The good news is that the gov-
ernment, public and private compa-
nies, as well as academic institutions
are all dedicated to figuring out
and contributing to the solution. A
healthy economy based on truth and
transparency will strengthen the ar-
gument for the necessary investment
funds, and Mongolia can tackle the
energy elephant, one bite at a time.
*
:L:iir*aAF FORBESMONGOLIA | 47
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