48 MW Houqiao Hydropower Project, Yunnan, China

Audit Analysis

The Houqiao Hydropower Project is a straightforward 48 MW renewable-energy avoidance project with a VVB-confirmed investment additionality test and no material findings. However, the use of a 2008 grid emission factor for a project operating through 2016 raises meaningful over-crediting risk, reversal events are not addressed, and no buffer pool is in place. Multiple contradictions between the 2013 and 2023 verification/monitoring documents—particularly on baseline method and leakage justification—reduce confidence in the data record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Grid emission factor of 0.8712 tCO2/MWh is from 2008, yet the project operated through March 2016; China's grid has become substantially cleaner in that interval, so credits may be overstated
• ⚠Reversal events are explicitly not addressed in the available documents and no buffer pool percentage is stated, leaving permanence risk unquantified
• ⚠Leakage justification shifted from 'quantified' in the 2013 verification report to 'deemed negligible' in the 2023 verification report, with the deduction remaining at 0%—the basis for the change is not explained
• ⚠FPIC was not conducted, and the 2013 verification report did not mention safeguards or a grievance mechanism, both of which appear only in the 2023 documents

Credit Vintages