Hydro-electricity

Pueblo Nuevo Vinas, Guatemala

The “Poza Verde Hydroelectric Project” consists of a small run-of-river hydroelectric power plant connected to the grid in Guatemala.

Goal of the project is to provide Guatemala with clean, reliable and renewable energy by using the water of the Aguacapa River, two francis turbines and two 4.16 kV synchronic generators. In the first project phase the hydroelectric plant had a capacity of 8.2 MW which was increased up to 14.5 MW by now. It is a run-of-river hydro power plant with a small diversion and reservoir to divert and hold water for short times during dry months in order to guarantee generation. The plant is operated by Papeles Elaborados S.A. The project mitigates CO2-emissions by reducing the demand for energy that is generated from fossil fuels. The country’s power grid is currently highly dependent on energy from oil, coal and diesel.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Creation of 400 jobs during the construction phase and 30 additional permanent jobs
• Strengthening of energy security for Guatemala’s grid and reduced dependence on imports
• Secured energy supply for several thousand people
• Enlargement of access to energy in the countryside
• Reforestation programme of areas adjacent to the Aguacapa River, resulting in a decrease of erosion and an increase of CO2-sequestration

Hydro-electricity

Hsikou, Taiwan

This small hydropower project is located in Tainan County, South-Western Taiwan, a rural center for the marketing and processing of agricultural products.

The small run-of-river reservoir based hydro power plant project in the South-West of Taiwan has a capacity of nearly 12 MW. It is operated by a local association which develops, maintains and manages the irrigation activities in agricultural areas in Taiwan. The downstream flows of the two reservoirs Zengwen and Wushantou are used for producing electricity, the two reservoirs are also maintained by this public organization. The project maximizes the utilization of existing renewable resources by producing an average of approximately 40,000 MWh per year fed into the national grid. The project substitutes fossil fuel based electricity production which still has a share of 76,4% (mainly coal) in Taiwan's electricity generation.

Further benefits of the project

• Clean electricity supply to an equivalent of 12,789 households per year
• Improvement of the grid stability and avoiding the construction of new fossil fuel fired power plant
• Creation of local employment during construction and operation phase
• Technology stimulation and know-how transfer to the region
• Significant reduction of CO2, SOx and NOx emissions, thus mitigating air pollution and its adverse impacts on human health

Forestry

Sofala, Mozambique

The Agro forestry and forest conservation project is located in the Gorongosa National Park in the Sofala province in eastern Mozambique.

Envirotrade Ltd. (in collaboration with the Sofala Provincial Government, the Gorongosa National Park and the local Nhambita community) maintains a forestry project in the Sofala province in eastern Mozambique. By implementing a forest management programme wirh forestry and agroforestry activities in an area of 11.744 hectares, the project aims at rehabilitating severely degraded forest environments, enhancing sustainable livelihoods and promoting biodiversity. Through a combination of agro-forestry and REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) activities, the project has an emission reduction capacity of 100,000 t of CO2 equivalent per annum.

Beside its emission reductions, the project contributes to social improvements. Selling offset-certificates means a perpetual revenue to the local community members. The project's support for a sustainable development is expressed by the project's additional CCB-Standard certification.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Substantial rise of incomes for rural households in the short-run due to payments associated with carbon offsets
• Increases in commercial activities in the medium-run
• Increases in local food production due to improved land productivity and better awareness of land-use practices
• Greater awareness with respect to the use of natural resources
• Special training offered to women leads to improved gender equality
• Protection of threatened species through awareness-raising and the preservation of natural habitats

Forestry

Pendravan, India

The reforestation project run by Prakash Industries Ltd. is located in the villages Pendravan, Rano, Saleh, Lara in the state of Chhattisgarh in Central India.

Prakash Industries Ltd. maintains a reforestation project in the state of Chhattisgarh in Central India. The project aims at the reforestation of 282 hectares of degraded lands in five project sites, involving a total volume of 210.233 planted trees. The growing trees sequester carbon dioxide from the air, with the effect that the re-cultivated land serves as a carbon dioxide sink. Additional positive effects on the climate system occur because the wood harvested sustainably from the plantation site reduces the incentive to exploit the surrounding forests. Overall, an average annual reduction of circa 10,000 t of CO2 equivalent can be attributed to the project.

By offering full-year employment for about 150 employees, the project also significantly increases the economic prospects of the rural population and provides opportunities for securing their future. The additional certification with the CCB-Standard (Gold) illustrates the sustainable (e.g. social) benefits of the project activity.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Improving the lives of the rural population by providing regular employment for about 150 people
• Continual training on farm machines and farming techniques entails opportunities for self-employment
• Participation in plantation activities contributes to community building
• Offers access to modern agro-forestry techniques and contributes to improvements in watershed management and land use
• Lower emigration figures due to improved living conditions

Wind energy

Üvecik, Turkey

This project concerns a grid connected on-shore wind farm in the province of Çanakkale in northwestern Turkey.

The wind farm project Alize Çamseki consists of 11 wind turbines type Enercon E82 and E48 with a total installed power generation capacity of 20.8 MW, which was installed and is operated by Demirer Enerji Üretim Sanayi ve Ticaret A.g. The annual estimated generation of energy amounts to 81,800 MWh, which is transferred to the national grid and replaces energy which would otherwise be partly produced with fossil fuels. This results in annual emission reductions of 51,955 tonnes of CO2-equivalents. The life-span of this project is 21 years. However, the operative life-span of this wind farm amounts to 30 years, resulting in substantial emission reductions beyond the certification period.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Reduction of the dependency on fossil fuels
• Reduction of energy imports
• Diversification and securization of the national energy generation
• Avoidance of pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particles which result from the electricity generation from fossil fuels in Turkey
• Creation of jobs for the local population during both the construction phase and the operation of the wind farm
• Support of the local economy due to an increased demand for services and material, technology and know-how transfer

Wind energy

Bandirma, Turkey

This turkish project includes five wind energy plants nearby the city of Bandirma, in the Balikesir province in the populous Marmara region.

The project consists of five wind turbines with a capacity of 15 MW. Akenerji Elektrik Uretimi A.S, a turkish company specialized in hydro and wind energy, is operating the project. Since September 2009, the 80 Meter high wind turbines by Vestas are producing electricity from a renewable source and contribute exploring the existing potential of wind energy in Turkey. The majority of the turkish electricity is produced by fossil fuels. with an expected 51 GWh each year, the project leads to annual CO2-reductions of more than 30,000 tons.

The project site is used as grassland for grazing activities by the local community. An evaluation of the project by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has concluded that the project does not have any significant environmental effect. According to the rules of the Gold Standard there is a regular monitoring of the project activity.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Emissions of SO2 and NOx will be reduced compared to baseline in parallel to CO2 due to avoiding fossil fuel combustion
• Contribution to regional economic development by creating jobs
• Development of the Wind power industry in Turkey to meet increasing electricity demand
• Transfer of technology and know-how
• Reduction of import dependency on fossil fuel weighed electricity sector

Wind energy

Changbin and Taichung, Taiwan

The project consists of two wind farms in the counties of Changhua (Changbin) and Taichung, Taiwan.

The windfarms are constructed and operated by InfraVest Wind Power Group, a subsidiary of the German-based VWind AG. The project comprises 45 Enercon E70 wind turbines for Changbin and 23 additional turbines for Taichung, each with a capacity of 2.3 MW. At full capacity, the aggregated output of the project is expected to be of 507 GWh/year, which is to be delivered to the state-owned power grid, Taipower. Accordingly, the project will lead to carbon dioxide emission reduction since it will avoid the use of fossil fuels. The project produces clean, renewable energy without contributing to global climate change. The annual emission reduction is estimated to be 352,991 t CO2-equivalents.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Contribution to the sustainability of the economy of Taiwan by reducing the dependency on fossil fuel imports
• Contribution to the development of the wind energy sector in Taiwan
• Provision of clean electricity to the equivalent of 110,000 households' annual demand
• Creation of local employment in both during the construction and operational phase
• Transfer of technology and know-how as the employees are trained by German wind turbine manufacturer Enercon on maintenance, safety and operational issues
• Reduction of pollutants such as sulphure dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particles resulting from the electricity generation from fossil fuels in Taiwan

Methane Recovery

Guangzhou, China

The brewery is located in Guangzhou, the capital of the populous province Guangdong provincec in teh South of China.

Goal of this project activity is the installation of a biogas-capturing device and a biogas based electricity generation system in the existing wastewater treatment system at the beer brewery of Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery Co. Ltd. The beer brewing process causes up to 5 million tons of wastewater each year, which is sent to an anaerobic digester system. Its organic matter is converted into a methane rich biogas, which is used for producing renewable electricity. The project activity leads to CO2-emission reductions by capturing biogas as well as by replacing fossil fuel electricity. Prior to the implementation the waste water treatment of the beer factory had no recovery devices for biogas.

The methane-rich gas was released to the atmosphere, per day more than 10,000 cubic meter of biogas is generated by the anaerobic digesters in the brewery. Besides, a desulfurization facility has been installed by which the toxic hydrogen sulphide (H2S) will be removed. The project showcases an innovative way to use biogas from wastewater for power generation and is the first CDM project in the brewery industry of China.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Improvement of air quality by the desulfurization and recovery of the biogas
• New jobs are created, improving the job quality as mainly monitoring role and roles of operating of advanced equipments and computers
• Technology and know-how transfer, as advanced engines and equipments from United States, Japan and Europe are in use
• Capacity building, as local people involved work the first time on a project under the Kyoto Protocol

Biomass

Siam Cement, Thailand

The five production sites are spread over Thailand, three are located in the central Saraburi province, the others are in the northern province of Lampang and in the Nakon Si Thammarat province in the South.

The goal of the project is the partial replacement of fossil fuels by biomass for the kiln heating process. The project activity is a combination of five cement manufacturing sites where Greenhouse Gas reduction projects are implemented. The production of cement generates a lot of CO2 from burning fossil fuel to heat the cement kiln. Instead of pet coal, lignite, heavy oil and natural gas, biomass such as wood, rice husk and other agricultural waste is used for the kiln heating process. This biomass was before considered as waste and dumped in landfills or burned on open fields.

Complete systems for receiving, storing, transporting and feeding biomass residue were installed at each project site. The biomass is collected in the nearby areas, depending on the available biomass and crop patterns. The local waste management systems have been improved and the dependency on fossil fuels has been reduced.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Generation of additional income for local farmers in exchange for biomass
• Creation of new jobs in the whole biomass supply chain
• Support for local students with an annual student scholarship program
• Reduction of upstream environmental impacts related to coal mining and processing
• Reduction of waste, thereby contributing to the vision of the company achieving a "Zero Waste to landfill" goal

Biomass

Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

This biomass project covers three small ceramic factories in Piraí, Três Rios and Itaboraí in the southeast state of Rio de Janeiro in Brasil.

The project covers three small ceramic factories Arrozal, GGP Ceramics and Sul America Ceramics, all of them in the state of Rio de Janeiro. All three factories switched to using renewable biomass instead of heavy oil as fuel to fire the ceramic kilns during the production process. Now, the kilns are heated by using sustainably managed wood, wood residues as wood chips and sawdust, as well as industrial waste, such as pallets and wooden packages. In exceptional cases, the demand for biomass can be supplied by cultivated plants as elephant grass. The project activity substitutes an yearly amount of 6,152,000 liters heavy oil which has been used instead of biomass prior to the project. The annual volume of CO2-reduction is about 27,771 tons of CO2-equivalents.

All ashes are incorporated into the Ceramic's compost. GGP uses the heat from the kilns to naturally dry the ceramic units. The project acitvity implies a whole lot of social and furhter ecological aims whose progressing is monitored and rated continuously by the Social Carbon Standard.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Supporting of all employees by voluntary social contributions as life insurances, housing, food staples
• Additional educational support to fight illiteracy, as well as medical care
• Supporting of local economies by purchasing biomass from local favelas
• Industrial waste from operations is reincorporated in the unused clay or used to patch roads
• Lectures to employees on topics as technical training and safe practice

Microbial Composting

Cape Town, South Africa

This project involves a composting site in Cape Town, South Africa.

Controlled microbial compost (CMC) is produced at this site, which is run by the South African company Reliance Compost (Pty) Ltd. Organic waste from municipal gardens is used which would otherwise be disposed of at the municipal landfill. The organic waste would have decomposed anaerobic, thereby releasing methane into the atmosphere. However, methane emissions are avoided during the new controlled microbial composting process with the result of an annual reduction of 60,000 tons of CO2-equivalents. The existing composting site was planned to be shut down due to profitability constraints, if there had not been a joint venture with the Dutch company Soil and More International. Now, in the context of this project, a new and larger composting site will be built and run next to the existing composting facility.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Substantial improvement of the water holding capacity and fertility of the soils, which is very important because the availability and quality of water represents a serious problem in the South African region
• Improvement of the disease resilience of the crops due to the treatment with compost reduction of the requirements for chemical pesticides
• Improvement of the economic situation of the farmers in the area, as expenditures on chemical fertilizers and pesticides are minimized
• Creation of around 55 jobs at the composting site within the next five years and of further jobs during the construction phase and operation of the new composting site, which improves the social circumstances in the area as a secure and stable income for many families

Landfill Gas

Suzhou, China

The „Suzhou Qizi Mountain Landfill Gas Recovery Project“ is located in the Jiangsu Province in East-China.

The Landfill Gas Facility uses the accruing landfill gas, which occurs through the decay of organic material, to generate electricity. Project developer is the „Everbright Environment and Energy Suzhou Landfill Gas to Energy Co. Ltd.“. The Landfill Gas Facility gathers the emerging gases (methane) of the landfill site which are burned in a block heating station. The generated energy is supplied to the local grid to meet the strongly growing national energy demand. Hence, this facility has a share in safeguarding the supply with electricity. The utilization of a waste product to generate electricity is a reasonable alternative instead of burning coal, whose part in China’s electricity generation is above 80%.

According to examined details of the constructor of the facility average 23,314 MWh of electricity are produced in the facility every year. This corresponds with an annual CO2-reduction of 114,383 tons of CO2. The project is listed as a Gold Standard project.

Additional sustainable benefits of the project

• Saving of resources by using landfill gases (CH4) for electricity generation
• Reduction of the negative impacts on the air, soil and water
• Improvement of the local living conditions
• Support of eco-friendly waste management systems, transfer of technology and knowledge into the region
• Creation of additional employment, 54 during the period of construction and 20 permanent jobs during the project duration

Geothermal Energy

Gunung Salak, Indonesia

The power plant is nearby the strato volcano Gunung Salak in Jawa Barat (West Java). The island of Java is one of the four main islands of the archipelago of Indonesia.

The project activity is comprised of a capacity upgrade of Gunung Salak Geothermal Power Plant from 3 x 55 MW to 3 x 60 MW. This is done by changing the turbine diaphragm and modifying the gas ejectors. The upgrade leads to an annual average of nearly 214 GWh of electricity to the connected JAMALI Grid. The supply of steam for the project, which is provided by the nearby Gunung Salak Geothermal fields is secured by an long-term Energy Sales contract. Indonesia is situated in the “Ring of Fire”, a global region with many volcanos. It’s great potential for geothermal energy resources are not yet fully exploited. The small proportion of the total energy mix is due to the high capital investment required for the development of geothermal energy utilization.

As geothermal power projects produce no end products in the form of solid waste (e.g. ash), they address the problem of solid waste disposal encountered by most other sources of power.

Further benefits of the project

• Creation of jobs on a regular and permanent basis, during the capacity upgrade and operation
• Improving the regional grid frequency and availability of electricity to the local consumers, thus providing opportunities for economic development
• Contributing to capacity building of the labour force through trainings and practical works
• Promoting education and gender equality by supporting an islamic boarding school with books and rooms that can be used for female students

Gas Recovery

Kaji-Semoga, Indonesia

The project takes place in the Kaji-Semoga oil field and is located in the South Sumatra province of Indonesia. The capital city, Palembangh, is about 80 km eastern.

The project is operated by PT Medco E & P Indonesia (MEPI). The associated gas, which is a by-product of the oil production in the Kaji-Semoga oil field, used to be flared. The installation of the liquid petrol gas (LPG) plant allows for the recovery and processing of the associated gas into LPG, condensate and residue gas. The flared gas lead to emissions of methane and CO2 which were estimated to cause 86,022 t CO2-equivalents on average per year. Locally, the elimination of flaring and the utilization of gas and LPG for fuel result in reduced greenhouse gas emissions and better air quality. Additionally, this project provides a cleaner alternative source of fuel at a more affordable cost, which helps to meet the increasing power demand in the area.

Further, the utilization of the captured gas will assist in reducing the country’s need to import oil.

Further benefits of the project

• Diversification of the sources of the national energy supply and increase in energy security as the national fossil fuel production is declining
• Creation of local employment in both during construction and operation
• Local stakeholders benefit from the promotion of long-term sustainable partnerships between external experts and local counterparts
• No effect on land under agriculture or natural growth
• No impact on any sensitive biodiversity areas, or other ecologically or culturally important sites in the region