Umurlu GeoThermal Power Plant

Audit Analysis

The Umurlu Geothermal Power Plant is a VCS-registered renewable energy project with a confirmed additionality assessment and jurisdictional baseline, but it is undermined by 16 material findings in the verification report, the absence of a buffer pool, and a 60.5% under-delivery against the ex-ante estimate. The project's conservative actual output relative to its initial claims is protective for credit holders, yet the breadth of documentation deficiencies and the lack of FPIC raise meaningful quality concerns.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠16 material findings in the verification report, including two methodology deviations (use of BIOGAS 5000 analyser instead of gas chromatography), a project start-date adjustment, and multiple missing or inconsistent data points in the PDD
• ⚠FPIC was not conducted despite the project's location in a populated area of Turkey, and the verification report notes the project description lacked details on phases, wells, and technical specifications
• ⚠The project delivered only ~40% of the pro-rata ex-ante expectation for the 6-year monitoring period (226,463 tCO2e vs. an estimated ~573,055 tCO2e), attributed to unfavourable climatic conditions, raising questions about the robustness of the original baseline assumptions

Credit Vintages