From June 2025 to May 2026, Mongolia consumed electricity overwhelmingly supplied by fossil fuels: coal accounted for about 92% of the total. Low-carbon electricity supplied the remaining 8%, entirely from wind in the supplied data. This means roughly eleven out of every twelve units of electricity came from coal, leaving substantial scope to expand clean electricity and reduce the climate impacts and air pollution associated with fossil fuels.

Is Electricity Growing in Mongolia?

The latest figures do not show Mongolia setting new electricity consumption records. In 2026, consumption was about 2,810 kWh per person, roughly 230 kWh, or 7%, below the record of 3,036 kWh reached in 2024. Low-carbon electricity generation was about 232 kWh per person, around 7% below its 2021 peak of 249 kWh. These shortfalls are concerning: Mongolia needs renewed growth, particularly in clean electricity, to support electrification and future demand, including from AI. Comparisons with historical peaks alone, however, do not establish whether consumption rose or fell compared with the immediately preceding year.

Suggestions

Mongolia can increase low-carbon electricity by expanding solar and wind while developing a pathway toward nuclear power. Its sunny, dry landscapes make solar experience from the US state of Nevada, where solar supplies 35% of electricity, especially useful; neighboring China also offers lessons, with solar supplying 12%. For wind, Mongolia could study the US states of South Dakota and Kansas, where wind supplies about 56% and 49% respectively, as examples relevant to its extensive open landscapes. Nuclear deserves serious consideration as a source of steady clean electricity: neighboring Russia generates about 19% of its electricity from nuclear, while Finland generates 37%. Investment in transmission, workforce training and long-term planning would help Mongolia turn these examples into a growing, diversified clean electricity supply.

History

Historically, Mongolia’s recorded low-carbon electricity gains have been concentrated in wind, with smaller solar additions. Hydropower showed no change at the reported precision in the listed years from 2009 through 2022. Wind generation increased by 0.1 TWh in both 2013 and 2014, followed by a larger 0.2 TWh gain in 2017. In 2019 and again in 2021, wind and solar each added 0.1 TWh. Progress then faltered in 2022, when wind fell by 0.1 TWh and hydro and solar showed no recorded change. Encouragingly, wind growth resumed with a 0.1 TWh increase in 2024 and accelerated to 0.3 TWh in 2025—the largest annual clean electricity increase in the supplied history. Sustaining and broadening that momentum is essential.

Electricity Imports and Exports

Balance of Trade

* 12M = Last 12 months (Jun 2025 – May 2026) — a rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year.