BT Geradora de Energia Elétrica S. A. – Ferradura Small Hydro Power Plant – Small Scale CDM Project

Audit Analysis

A small-scale CDM hydro project in Brazil with VVB-verified additionality (investment test) and a reasonable grid-emission-factor baseline, but undermined by three material findings (including a 0.47 MW capacity discrepancy), contradictory baseline and leakage characterisations between the validation and monitoring reports, and several missing MRV details. The project delivered roughly 91% of the pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the elapsed monitoring period, which is conservative, but the documentation gaps and unresolved contradictions limit confidence in the credit figures.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Installed capacity discrepancy: PDD states 9.2 MW while the site visit recorded 9.67 MW (0.47 MW difference), which could alter the baseline and ERR calculation.
• ⚠Baseline method is characterised as 'project-specific' in the monitoring report but 'jurisdictional' in the validation report — an unresolved contradiction that affects baseline validity.
• ⚠Leakage justification is inconsistent: the monitoring report states leakage was 'quantified' while the validation report states it was 'deemed negligible', yet both documents report a 0% deduction.
• ⚠Three material findings required corrective actions (PDD omission of a 332 kW unit, capacity correction, meter serial-number error), indicating quality-control weaknesses in the project documentation.

Credit Vintages