Zinguizapa Small Scale Hydropower Project

Audit Analysis

The Zinguizapa small hydro project (a CPA within the Guacamaya PoA) presents serious integrity and eligibility concerns: the VVB did not confirm additionality at the verification stage, the verification report records an expired crediting period and a rejected UNFCCC renewal rendering the project ineligible for GS certification, and multiple data inconsistencies (faulty meters, swapped CPA labels, generation-figure errors) undermine confidence in the MRV chain. While the project over-delivered relative to its pro-rata ex-ante expectation and leakage treatment is reasonable for small hydro, the cumulative effect of unverified additionality, contradictory baseline and safeguards reporting, and the eligibility finding makes the credit claims unreliable.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠The verification report (2022) records that the project has an expired crediting period, the UNFCCC renewal was rejected, and the project is 'not eligible for GS certification' — a fundamental eligibility failure.
• ⚠Additionality was NOT confirmed by the VVB at the verification stage (verification report, 2020), contradicting the earlier validation report (2014) which had confirmed it.
• ⚠The additionality test type is contradicted between documents: the validation report (2014) records a barrier test while the PDD (2015) records an investment test.
• ⚠Multiple faulty meters were identified during calibration (VPA 0003 error of 6.408%, CPA 0003 backup meter above threshold), requiring retroactive adjustments to ER calculations.
• ⚠Claimed ERR (62,097 tCO₂e) exceeds verified ERR (46,527 tCO₂e) by roughly 25%, indicating the project over-claimed in its monitoring report.

Credit Vintages

No issuances recorded on the registry.