On February 9 and 24, 2022, UPM’s Sapphire 49.5 MW Wind Farm Project in Pakistan (CDM 8163, GS 11307) successfully obtained its first issuances of CDM CERs covering the monitoring periods from 22 November 2015 to 31 December 2017 and from 01 January 2018 to 31 December 2020. After deduction of the share of proceeds to support CDM operations and contribute to climate change adaptation activities, nearly 364,000 CP2 CERs will be available for sale. Thereof, around 52,000 CERs, vintages 2019 and 2020, will be issued as GS CERs still in 2022 because the project is also registered under the Gold Standard.

The project owner of the Sapphire Wind Farm located northeast of Jhimpir City in the Thatta District of Pakistan’s Sindh Province is Sapphire Wind Power Company Limited (SWPCL), a subsidiary of Sapphire Textile Mills Limited.

The purpose of the Sapphire 49.5 MW Wind Farm Project is to utilize wind for electricity generation through the construction of a wind farm with a total capacity of 49.5 MW (actual installed power capacity is 52.8 MW), and to deliver the project’s electricity to the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) grid. By replacing fossil fuel dominated WAPDA grid electricity with approx.137,500 MWh per year of green wind electricity, the project achieves annual GHG emission reductions of around 78,000 tCO2e.

Apart from climate action (SDG 13) and the provision of clean and sustainable energy (SDG 7), the Sapphire Wind Farm Project has further positive impacts on achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in Pakistan.

As Pakistan is passing through an acute energy crisis, it contributes to reducing the number of blackouts and brownouts experienced by grid users, which helps to improve the economic performance of these businesses and to strengthen Pakistan’s economic development. In addition, it creates attractive job opportunities for local people during the construction phase and the operational period (SDG 8).

Last but not least, UPM’s Sapphire Wind Farm Project belongs to a group of first-of-its-kind wind farms in Pakistan using the newest foreign-manufactured wind turbines. Therefore, it promotes an important technological know-how transfer to Pakistan (SDG 9).

 

 

Your contacts at UPM for the Sapphire Wind Farm Project and its CERs and GS CERs are:

Martin Dilger, Managing Director, UPM Germany
mdilger(at)upm-cdm.eu, T: +49 89 1222197 – 50

and

Gaiai Guo, Vice General Manager, UPM China
guog(at)upm-cdm.eu, T: +86 10 6468 0500