Braço Norte III Small Hydro Plant

Audit Analysis

The Braço Norte III small hydro project is a CDM avoidance project with VVB-confirmed additionality, but it carries significant data-quality concerns: a grid emission factor discrepancy of roughly 18% between the PDD and the monitoring report, a 0% leakage deduction that the monitoring report describes as 'not addressed,' and five corrective action requests raised during verification. Pro-rata delivery is reasonable at about 96% of the expected reduction for the elapsed monitoring period, but the project-specific baseline and unresolved contradictions limit confidence in the claimed figures.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Grid emission factor contradiction: the PDD registers 0.5364 tCO2/MWh while the monitoring report uses 0.438 tCO2/MWh, a ~19% gap that could overstate baseline emissions and therefore the project's credited reductions.
• ⚠Leakage deduction is 0% and the monitoring report (June 2012) states leakage was 'not addressed,' even though the earlier validation report (2006) indicated it was quantified — a regression in treatment.
• ⚠Five corrective action requests (CARs) were raised during verification, including failure to invite local communities and the Public Attorney to stakeholder consultation as required by the CDM DNA, and an incorrect crediting-period table in the PDD.
• ⚠Baseline method is contradictory: the validation report (2006) describes a jurisdictional baseline while the verification report (2012) records a project-specific baseline; the more recent verification report is privileged but the inconsistency undermines baseline robustness.

Credit Vintages