A multinational consortium, led by Korea’s POSCO Energy, has been named a preferred bidder to operate a large-scale combined heat and power plant in Mongolia, company officials said Friday.

The power unit of POSCO participated in the consortium as the largest shareholder with a 30 percent stake, together with France’s GDF Suez, Japan’s Sojitz Corporation and Mongolia’s Newcom Group.

The planned cogeneration power plant with an electricity capacity of 450 megawatts will be located near Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital.

With the construction work kicking off in 2013, its commercial operation is expected to start in the latter half of 2016.

The POSCO consortium will operate the facility for 25 years and then transfer the operation rights to the Mongolian government.

The company predicted that the facility, which will become Mongolia’s largest private-run power plant when completed, will open up the energy supply more for the nation’s cold and long winter season.

Along with the latest Mongolian project, POSCO Energy has succeeded in winning global plant orders in the U.S., Vietnam, and Indonesia since the company entered the overseas markets two years ago.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)