PrairieWinds ND1 (PWND1) Emissions Reduction Project

Audit Analysis

PrairieWinds ND1 is a US wind energy project with VVB-confirmed additionality and no reversal events, but it carries notable integrity gaps: leakage is unaddressed with a 0% deduction, a material finding flags potential REC double-counting, and the baseline method is inconsistently described across documents. The project delivered roughly 90% of its pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the 2021 monitoring period, indicating no over-crediting, but the volume of corrective actions and inter-document contradictions undermines confidence in the MRV record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Material finding in the 2022 verification report requires clarification of REC generation and double-counting assessment — a critical concern for a renewable energy project
• ⚠Leakage deduction is 0% with justification recorded as 'not addressed' in the most recent verification report, despite the 2015 verification report stating leakage was quantified
• ⚠Baseline method is stated as 'project' in the 2022 verification report but 'jurisdictional' in the 2022 monitoring report — an unresolved contradiction
• ⚠Extensive list of corrective actions (12 items) covering monitoring report errors, inconsistent MWh figures, missing sections, and incorrect methodology version references
• ⚠Grid emission factor differs between documents: 0.373 (2022 monitoring report) vs 0.8422 (March 2022 verification report)

Credit Vintages