Mongolia is a large but sparsely populated country. Covering over 1.5 million square kilometer, Mongolia has a population of only three-million people. About 1.3 million Mongolians live in the urban capital city of Ulaanbaatar, while the rest of the population is widely dispersed throughout the country. Many Mongolians live in rural areas. In total, about a quarter of Mongolia's population consists of nomadic herders. At the start of this millennium, Mongolia's nomads had little or no access to modern electric power.

With help from the Renewable Energy and Rural Electricity Access Project (REAP), the Mongolian government implemented a plan to provide electricity to the nomads by utilizing the solar resource. Therefore, “the 100.000 Solar Ger Program” was established in 1999. The program was staged in three phases; 2000-2002, 2003-2004 and 2005-2010. Thanks to the program, 100,000 small PV systems with capacity between 20-75W to the households and herders in rural area. Entirely, 70% of nomadic Mongolians now have access to modern electricity, an achievement which greatly surpasses the Project's original target goal.

             The 100,000 Solar Gers Program enabled nomads to continue their lifestyle while still having access to modern electricity, thereby preserving their traditional lifestyle.