4.5MW grid-connected Sugur Mini Hydel Scheme at SLS Power Industries Ltd in Bellary District, Karnataka

Audit Analysis

A straightforward 4.5 MW grid-connected mini-hydro displacement project in Karnataka, India, validated under CDM AMS-I.D. v18.0 with a jurisdictional grid-emission-factor baseline. The project is low-risk in design (hydro displacing grid electricity, minimal leakage, no reversal risk), but the documentation record is thin — no monitoring report, no verification report, and a significant (7×) discrepancy between the PDD's initial CER estimate and the validated figure, explained by a revised grid emission factor. Overall a credible but modestly documented project with no major integrity concerns.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠The PDD (Feb 2022) estimated 68,481 CERs over the crediting period, but the validation report (Mar 2022) revised this to 9,783 — a ~7× reduction attributed to a change in the baseline grid emission factor (CAR #1). While the correction was caught during validation, the initial PDD figure was substantially overstated.
• ⚠No monitoring report or verification report appears in the extracted record; the monitoring period is not stated, making it impossible to confirm that any credits have actually been issued or verified post-validation.
• ⚠Leakage treatment is inconsistent across documents: the validation report (Mar 2022) states leakage is 'deemed negligible' (0% deduction), while an earlier appendix (Oct 2021) describes it as 'quantified.' The final position is 0% with a negligible justification, but the inconsistency weakens confidence in the leakage analysis.

Credit Vintages