El Canadá Hydroelectric Project

Audit Analysis

The El Canadá Hydroelectric Project is a CDM-registered run-of-river hydro scheme in Guatemala that displaces grid electricity, with a combined additionality test and FPIC in place. However, the project record contains three material contradictions (leakage justification, ERR figures, and baseline method), a 0% leakage deduction with inconsistent documentation, and several missing monitoring parameters, limiting confidence in the credit claims. The project is an avoidance-type design with no inherent reversal risk, but the documentation gaps and data inconsistencies warrant caution.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Three contradictions across documents: leakage justification ('not addressed' in 2017 monitoring report vs 'deemed negligible' in 2013 validation report), total ERR (61,866 vs 246,627 in two monitoring reports), and baseline method ('project' vs 'jurisdictional')
• ⚠Leakage deduction of 0% with justification described as 'not addressed' in the most recent monitoring report, despite the validation report having deemed it negligible
• ⚠Grid emission factor of 0.495 tCO2/MWh is based on 2008 data, which is over 9 years old at the time of the 2017 monitoring report
• ⚠Corrective actions required: parameters ABL, CapBL, APJ, and CapPJ were missing from the registered PDD and monitoring plan despite being required by methodology ACM0002 v13.0.0
• ⚠Total ERR verified figure is not found in the extracted record, preventing independent verification of claimed credits

Credit Vintages