On the 16th of February 2016, UPM successfully registered its first wind power project, the “Zorlu Enerji Wind Project” (CDM Ref. 9849 | GS 3946), with the Gold Standard. With this registration, the Zorlu Wind Energy Project becomes not only the first GS registered project in Pakistan but also the first emission reduction project with double certification GS CDM in the country. The project is currently under verification and will issue its first GS CERs credits later this year. The project was successfully registered by UPM under the CDM in March 2014, with effective date as per 6th of January 2014.

The project is located in Pakistan, Sindh Province, Thatta District, northeast of Jhimpir City. The project owner is Zorlu Enerji Pakistan Limited which is part of well-known Turkish business conglomerate Zorlu Group. The purpose of this project is to utilise wind resources for electricity generation through the construction of a wind farm with a total capacity of 56.4 MW and to deliver the electricity generated from the project to National Transmission & Despatch Company Limited (NTDC), the grid operator of Pakistani Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA). The project’s wind farm started operation in July 2013.

By replacing the electricity of the WAPDA grid, which is heavily dominated by fossil fuel fired power plants, with electricity generated from clean wind power, the project activity is not only contributing significantly to closing Pakistan’s severe energy supply gap but will also achieve total greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions of approximately 982,000 tCO₂e throughout its entire crediting period of 10 years.

For official information and related documentation about the project, please visit the Gold Standard’s Markit project database and/or the project page on the UNFCCC CDM projects database.

For more information about this wind farm project development and the availability of its upcoming GS CERs, please contact us:

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 – 13