20 MW Solar Project in Sanwreej, Jodhpur, Rajasthan

Audit Analysis

A 20 MW CDM solar project in Rajasthan with VVB-confirmed additionality and a reasonable grid emission factor, but undermined by a significant module-count discrepancy (72,960 registered vs 77,760 installed), a one-year shift in the crediting start date between the PDD and monitoring report, and 18 corrective actions across two verification cycles. The absence of a physical site visit, unresolved monitoring CARs, and contradictory baseline and leakage characterisations between documents materially weaken confidence in the project's integrity and claim accuracy.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Module count discrepancy: registered PDD states 72,960 modules while the monitoring report records 77,760 actually commissioned (a 6.6% increase), with the VVB unable to resolve whether this constitutes a correction or a project design change under CDM PS v02.0 paragraph 241(a).
• ⚠Crediting period start date differs by a full year between the PDD (2017-08-01) and the monitoring report (2018-08-01), creating uncertainty over the true lifetime ER entitlement.
• ⚠Physical site visit was not conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the verification relied on remote audit and telephonic interviews only.
• ⚠Nine corrective actions from the monitoring report remain unresolved, including clarification of the module-count inconsistency, the effective date of the design change, and the exclusion of January–February 2020 generation for Project-II.
• ⚠Leakage justification is contradictory: the monitoring report states leakage was 'not addressed' while the validation report records it as 'deemed negligible', with a 0% deduction applied in both cases.

Credit Vintages