First Monitoring Report under 2.2 Version of the Registered Project Title of the project Prayas - A VER project for the rural communities in Uttarakhand Project, India Gold Standard project id GS3971 Version number of the monitoring report 06 Completion date of the monitoring report 12/07/2019 Date of project design certification 01/03/2016 Start date of crediting period 01/06/2016 Duration of this monitoring period (01/06/2016) to (31/05/2018) Inclusive of both days Duration of previous monitoring period This is the first Monitoring Report Project representative(s) 1. Society for Upliftment of Villagers & Development of Himalayan Areas (SUVIDHA), 2. Nav Nirman Samiti (NNS), 3. Sanjeevani Vikas Evam Jan Kalyan Samiti (Sanjeevani) Host Country India Certification pathway (activity certification/impact certification) Impact Certification Gold Standard statement/product certification sought (GSVER/ADALYs/RECs GS VERs etc.) Selected methodology(ies) Technologies and Practices to Displace Decentralized Thermal Energy Consumption (TPDDTEC) methodology –Version. 2.0 Estimated amount of annual average certified SDG impact (as per approved PDD) 96,334 tCO2 for the monitoring period Total amount of certified SDG impact (as per approved methodology) achieved in this 15,438 tCO2 monitoring period Page 1 of 60 SECTION A. Description of project A.1. Purpose and general description of project The Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Society for Upliftment of Villagers & Development of Himalayan Areas (SUVIDHA), Nav Nirman Samiti (NNS), and Sanjeevani Vikas Evam Jan KalyanSamiti (Sanjeevani) are based in Uttarakhand state of INDIA. The NGOs are working in the area of environment, poverty alleviation, unemployment, health and literacy among the rural families of Uttarakhand State, India. The main objective of the project is to provide i) 12,000 Improved Cook stoves and ii) 10,000 Biogas units (Deenabandhu Model) for Himalayan rural households of Almora, Bageshwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital districts of Uttarakhand State, India, where the NGOs are working. These technologies replace energy inefficient methods of cooking thereby reducing GHG emissions that contribute to climate change. The project also contributes to sustainable development of the communities in the project boundary. Biogas was provided to households that have sufficient cattle and space. If not, they are provided with improved cook stove (ICS). This GS VER project replaces traditional cook stoves currently used by the rural communities, which are relatively inefficient at 10%1 while the Improve Cook Stoves has efficiency greater than 20% (32.098%). Improved Cook Stove (ICS) saves fuel wood by reducing consumption, which thereby reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Biogas completely replaces non-renewable fuelwood with renewable biogas energy. Each household installed a 2 m3 biogas plant and feed cattle dung, into the anaerobic digester. By utilizing cattle dung in a controlled anaerobic digestion and combustion system, biogas is available for cooking energy and heat water for bath. Biogas is used on a two-ring gas stove having with a flame temperature of 870oC2, supplied as part of the project activity. The biogas slurry is used as bio-manure. Relevant dates of the project The registration of the project as a GS VER project was on 01/03/2016 and the crediting period started from 01/06/20163. The project was implemented after securing forward carbon funds. The start date of commission of the first biogas unit is 26/04/2016. The commission and use of first biogas unit was from 26/04/2016. The NGO, Suvidha has implemented the project in Nainital District of Uttarakhand State. The distribution of improved cook stoves activity does not involve any construction. The improved cook stoves Greenway Smart Stove was purchased from Greenway Grameen Infra Private Limited and implemented in the project area in Almora District of Uttarakhand State. The NGOs, NNS and Sanjeevini have implemented this technology in their respective region of work. The project activity was implemented only after registration of the project as a GS VER project and procuring carbon financing for implementation of the project activity. The distribution of first stove was on 16/06/2017. Total GHG emission reductions achieved in this monitoring period: The total GHG emission reductions achieved in this monitoring period is as follows: 1 As per GS Methodology (pg no18), 10% thermal efficiency for primitive stoves (those without chimney and grate) or 20% thermal efficiency for more advanced baseline stoves. 2 B.T. Nijaguna. 2002. Biogas Technology, New Age International Publishers, New Delhi.(Page no 36) 3 https://mer.markit.com/br-reg/public/project.jsp?project_id=103000000009194 Page 2 of 60 Summary of the Project Activity and ERs Generated for the Monitoring Period Start date of first monitoring period 01-June-2016 Carbon credits claimed up to 31-May-2018 Total Biogas Units Commissioned till 31st May 2018 1990 ICS distributed to number of households till 31st May 2018 1462 Total ERs generated (after subtracting for non-operational days) and 15,438 accounting for leakage ERs generated for the period 1st June 2016 to 31st May 2018 (Biogas) 11,565 ERs generated for the period 1st June 2016 to 31st May 2018 (ICS) 3,873 Total ERs generated for the Monitoring Period (Biogas + ICS) 15,438 A.2. Location of project Figure 1: Map showing Almora, Bageshwar and Nainital districts of Uttarakhand State, India Host Country: India State: Uttarakhand Districts: Almora, Bageshwar, Udham Singh Nagar and Nainital Almora District: Almora is a district in the Kumaun division, East of Uttarakhand in India and is located between 29o and 30 o North latitudes and 79o and81o East longitudes4 and has an average elevation of 1651 meters5. Bageshwar District: Situated at the confluence of rivers Saryu, Gomti and latent Bhagirathi, lies Bageshwar, located at 29 o 42’ and 30o 18’ North Latitudes and 79o 28’ and 80o 9’ Eastern Longitudes6 and has an average elevation of 1004 meters7. 4http://almora.nic.in/files/pdf/District%20Almora%20at%20a%20glance(09_10).pdf 5http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/uttaranchal/districts/almora.htm 6http://bageshwar.nic.in/files/EXCEL_AT_A_GLANCE__curent.xls 7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bageshwar Page 3 of 60 Udham Singh Nagar: Udham Singh Nagar District is located in the Terai region and is part of Kumaon Division. It is bounded on the north by Nainital District, on the northeast by Champawat District, on the east by Nepal, and on the south and west by Bijnor District and Moradabad District of Uttar Pradesh state. Nainital District: Nainital is located between 29o 00’ and 29o 05’ North Latitudes and 78o 80’ and 80o 14’ Eastern Longitudes8 and has an average elevation of 2084 meters9. State District Latitude (N) Longitude (E) Almora 29o 00’ 790 00’ Bageshwar 29 o 42’ 80o 9’ Uttarakhand Udham Singh Nagar 28o 48’ 79o 24’ Nainital 29 o 00’ 80o 14’ A.3. Reference of applied methodology This GS VER project applies the Gold Standard methodology ‘Technologies and Practices to Displace Decentralized Thermal Energy Consumption’ (Version 2.0). A.4. Crediting period of project >> Start Date of Crediting Period: 01/06/2016 Length of the Crediting Period: 7 years, 0 months SECTION B. Implementation of project B.1. Description of implemented project Description of the technology implemented Biogas (Deenabandhu Model): The technology is a domestic biogas plant. It is a small thermal appliance that displaces the use of non-renewable biomass by introducing a system for utilizing cattle dung and converting it into renewable energy by means of a digester in which the substrate undergoes acidification and methanation. Technology system and equipment involved: The chosen methane recovery and combustion system is the time tested Deenabandhu model biogas technology, which is well known in India10. The biogas unit is constructed for individual households by trained masons. The technical specifications of the Deenabandhu model bio-digester are as follows11. Specification Value Capacity 2 m3 Mixing Proportion (Water: Dung) 1:1 Feed Material Cattle Dung 8http://nainital.nic.in/files/pdf/Distt.At_Glance-2012-13.pdf 9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nainital 10 Approved design by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. National Biogas and Manure Management Programme (NBMMP),Section 3, Technology. http://www.mnre.gov.in/schemes/decentralized-systems/schems-2 11 B.T. Nijaguna. 2002. Biogas Technology, New Age International Publishers, New Delhi. Page 4 of 60 Flow rate 0.47 m3/hr Number and size of burners 2 burners of 4" size The average lifetime of the biogas units is 25 years12. In the project activity, users prepare batches of slurry in the mixing tank, before allowing the final mixture to flow into the digester for methane formation phase. The recovered gas is combusted and used for cooking and water heating. Biogas is constructed for single households having minimum of two cows and place to build biogas digester. These use cattle dung and organic wastes in individual household methane recovery systems of biogas for cooking and water heating. The biogas individual plants consist of a mixing chamber where water and cattle dung are mixed in 1:1 ratio, an inlet pipe to feed the slurry into the reactor, the main biogas reactor / digester where methane formation / recovery takes place, a slurry outlet pipe, an outlet chamber, and a slurry platform. The outlet pipe and tank are provided to remove the digested / treated sludge or fermentation residue and the slurry platform is provided to maintain the treated slurry in clean condition. A pipe leading from the top of the dome to the stove supplies biogas to a 2-ring stove inside the house. After digestion, evacuated spent slurry is used as manure in the agriculture fields. Figure 2: Schematic and Pictorial representation and a constructed Deenabandhu Biogas Unit Biogas is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide. It also has traces of hydrogen sulphide (3%), ammonia, oxygen, hydrogen, water vapour etc., depending upon feed materials and other conditions.