Cheves Hydro Power Project, Peru

Audit Analysis

The Cheves Hydro Power Project in Peru is a CDM-registered small hydro scheme validated by DNV with a confirmed combined additionality test, but the available record is heavily constrained by low extraction confidence, the absence of any monitoring-period data, and four material contradictions between the PDD and the validation report — most critically a roughly seven-fold discrepancy in the claimed emission reductions. The project's integrity is further weakened by the lack of documented free, prior and informed consent or a grievance mechanism, which is a significant gap for a hydro project in a region with indigenous communities.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠The PDD claims 2,756,816 tCO₂e while the validation report records 393,831 tCO₂e — a ~7× discrepancy that is not fully explained by the differing crediting periods (7 vs 21 years), leaving an unexplained ~2.3× gap.
• ⚠No free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) or grievance mechanism is documented in any available record, despite the project being a hydro scheme in Peru where indigenous and local community engagement is a standard safeguard expectation.
• ⚠Baseline method is stated as 'project' in the validation report but 'jurisdictional' in the PDD; for a grid-displacement hydro project the jurisdictional (grid emission factor) approach is the expected method, so the VVB's 'project' label is inconsistent.
• ⚠Minimum extraction confidence is rated low, meaning at least one key document was poorly readable and the full evidentiary picture may be incomplete.

Credit Vintages

No issuances recorded on the registry.