18 MW Singatalur-Huligudda Mini Hydel Project, Karnataka, India

Audit Analysis

A small-scale (18 MW) hydro project under CDM with VVB-confirmed additionality and a jurisdictional baseline, but the verification record reveals six material findings centred on metering calibration lapses and PDD inconsistencies. The project is significantly under-delivering relative to its ex-ante estimate (roughly 45 % of the pro-rata expectation for the elapsed monitoring period), which is conservative for claim safety but raises questions about the accuracy of the original PDD projection. Key safeguards documentation (FPIC, grievance mechanism) and verified emission-reduction figures are absent from the extracted record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Six material findings in the monitoring report, including delayed calibration of main and check meters across 2015–2019 and an auxiliary energy meter operating at accuracy class 1 instead of the registered class 0.5
• ⚠Grid emission factor dated 2006 (over 15 years old at the time of the 2022 monitoring report), with no evidence of an updated or reassessed baseline
• ⚠Verified emission-reduction figure not found in the extracted record; the only comparable figure (170,267 tCO₂e from the monitoring report) is roughly 45 % of the pro-rata expectation derived from the PDD's lifetime estimate of 450,490 tCO₂e
• ⚠Three corrective actions remain open, including applying a maximum permissible error factor for the delayed-calibration periods and revising meter calibration frequency to quarterly

Credit Vintages