12 MW biomass based renewable power generation in Rajasthan, India

Audit Analysis

A 12 MW biomass power project in Rajasthan with a solid investment-test additionality case (IRR 5.81% vs 13.25% benchmark) and a standardised AMS-I.D. methodology, but the monitoring report reveals the project delivered only about 19% of the pro-rata emissions reductions expected for the elapsed crediting period, raising serious over-crediting and greenwashing concerns. The verification process generated 24 corrective action requests and a biomass-type correction, and several key MRV parameters (FNRB, usage monitoring method) are absent from the extracted record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Monitoring report (2019) reports 68,273 tCO2e for the 2013–2019 period, only ~19% of the pro-rata expectation (~360,000 tCO2e) derived from the PDD lifetime estimate of 582,780 tCO2e over 10 years — a severe under-delivery that suggests the PDD was highly optimistic or the project suffered major operational shortfalls.
• ⚠24 Corrective Action Requests and 10 Clarification Requests were raised during verification, indicating significant initial documentation and methodological weaknesses.
• ⚠Biomass feedstock type was corrected from 'Juliflora' to include mustard crop residue and wood chips, and the methodology version (AMS-I.D v15) had expired and needed updating to v17 before approval.
• ⚠Grid emission factor of 0.84 tCO2/MWh is anchored to 2009 data, which is dated and may not reflect current grid mix in Rajasthan.

Credit Vintages