Cross border green power trade in Northeast Asia is ushering in new possibilities. On October 13, 2026, Saudi Arabia's international power and water company ACWA Power and Mongolia's Sun Steppe Power signed a memorandum of cooperation during the 25th World Petroleum Congress in Riyadh. The two sides plan to jointly develop 4.5GW renewable energy projects and create a gigawatt level cross-border green power export channel for the Chinese market. The clean energy cooperation pattern in Northeast Asia is ushering in new variables.

Jiwa level green power project targets cross-border export potential

The core plan of this framework cooperation memorandum is to develop a wind and photovoltaic project with a total scale of 4.5GW in Mongolia, and to build a 500MWh battery energy storage system to stabilize green electricity fluctuations. The project covers the entire chain of wind and solar power station development, energy storage support, as well as cross-border transmission and export infrastructure for China or other markets agreed upon by both parties. At present, the agreement is still in the preliminary evaluation stage and has not yet entered the final investment decision-making stage. The 4.5GW installed capacity is a potential project blueprint and not a rigid construction commitment that has already been implemented.

The signing ceremony was attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Minister of Energy and Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia, as well as Mohammed Abunaan, Chairman of ACWA Power, which reflects the importance both sides attach to this direction of cooperation. The project will rely on Mongolia's abundant wind and solar resources to create a leading cross-border green power export demonstration project in Northeast Asia. Once implemented, it will directly reshape the energy trade structure between China and Mongolia.

Complementary advantages of the three parties, connecting the landing support conditions

The two parties have formed a strong complementary capability. Sun Steppe Power is backed by London listed Mongolian oil company Petro Matad, whose joint venture has already reserved a 570MW renewable energy project portfolio in Mongolia, with solid local market development experience and project resources. ACWA Power brings mature global new energy project development capabilities and international financing channels, significantly reducing the threshold for early project promotion.

The latest progress in the interconnection and intercommunication of the China Mongolia power grid has also provided key support for the project. On September 16, 2026, the 220 kV Tawang Tolgoi substation in Mongolia was successfully connected to the Inner Mongolia power grid in China. The two countries' power grids have upgraded from point-to-point dedicated line power supply to grid to grid cross-border interconnection and intercommunication, and a physical channel for large-scale power export has been preliminarily formed. Combined with the memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation signed by the governments of Mongolia and Saudi Arabia at the same time, the policy support conditions for the project are basically in place. At present, the entire project is still in the feasibility study stage. If all commercial arrangements are successfully implemented in the future, it will become a landmark attempt for Mongolia to export renewable energy electricity to China on a large scale. Keywords: wind power, photovoltaic

On the vast Mongolian plateau, continuous wind turbines and photovoltaic panels are expected to deliver clean electricity to the Chinese market through cross-border power grids in the future, and a new landscape of cross-border green electricity trade in Northeast Asia is slowly unfolding.Editor/Cheng Liting