ANNEX AM – POA PASSPORT TEMPLATE CONTENTS A. Programme title B. Programme description C. Proof of programme eligibility D. Stakeholder Consultation and Sustainability Assessment at PoA/CPA(VPA) level E. Outcome of the stakeholder consultation process at PoA level F. Outcome sustainability assessment G. Sustainability monitoring plan H. Additionality, conservativeness, inclusion criteria and other deviations Annex 1 ODA declarations The Gold Standard POA - Passport GS Version 2.2 1 SECTION A. Programme Title Orb Energy Solar Program in India Version 5.0 19/06/2016 SECTION B. Programme description 1) PoA description a) Policy/measure or stated goal that the PoA seeks to promote; The purpose of this Gold Standard Program is dissemination of solar thermal (water heating) and electrical (lighting and other needs) systems in rural and urban/semi-urban areas in various states of India. The proposed Program through dissemination of solar water heaters (SWH) and solar photovoltaics based electrical systems (SPV) will utilize the energy from the sun and convert it into thermal and electrical energy respectively to replace the fossil fuel that would have been used otherwise to meet equivalent energy demands in the baseline. The households/SMEs in India meet their energy needs from grid electricity, kerosene, LPG, diesel and wood (non-renewable) for electrical and thermal energy needs. The energy baseline is the fossil/non renewable fuel consumption that would have been used in the absence of the project activity to generate the equivalent quantity of energy needed for electric and thermal applications per household/facility. Thus, replacement of fossil fuel usage will contribute towards reducing equivalent GHG emissions. By 2020, Orb envisages an installation target of more than 500,000 households/facilities b) Framework for the implementation of the proposed PoA The Coordinating/Managing Entity (CME) of the PoA is Orb Energy Private Limited (hereinafter referred as ‘Orb’). Orb shall serve as the focal point of contact for communications with Gold Standard. Orb operates through a network of direct branches and franchisee stores. Sales are carried out through these centers. Orb and its technicians are responsible for sales and installation of SWH and SPVs. Local sales team members book the order and after necessary checks the logistics department dispatches the installation kits to the concerned branch. Branch receives the installation kits and the branch technicians install the system at the relevant customer location. Each unit is assigned with a unique serial number for easy identification and avoidance of double counting. At the time of unit installation, customer information is collected on a sampling basis to determine factors for calculation of emission reductions. To ensure customer satisfaction, Orb gives a total system warranty on SWHs and SPVs and 3 free preventive maintenance visits in the first year. Preventative maintenance visits in the first year are essential to improve customer understanding of the operation and necessary maintenance of the system. This preventative measure by Orb Energy is required to ensure that systems work properly over time. After one year from the date of installation, Orb then offers customers an annual maintenance contract (AMC) for regular preventive maintenance and overall up-keep of the system. The technicians are recruited for each centre from local areas. Upon joining, technicians receive extensive training at Orb Energy’s head office in Bangalore, and regular refresher training on an on-going basis. These technicians ensure optimal installation of the solar system and provide essential after-sales service to the customer in the form of preventive maintenance or complaint handling. Orb Energy’s marketing and customer care division in head office, Bangalore tracks and processes service visits and complaints centrally. They allocate all required service calls to the Operations Executive (administrator) in each branch, and then follow up to ensure that the relevant technician has completed the required visit and service. Senior management in Orb Energy head office receives regular reporting on complaint visits addressed and those outstanding. In addition to providing the highest quality installed solar systems, and essential after-sales service, Orb also The Gold Standard POA - Passport GS Version 2.2 2 helps customers arrange a loan. Orb has agreements with multiple banks, MFIs etc that offer customers up to 5- year loans for solar systems. This enables increased access to clean and affordable energy services to customers to enjoy the benefits of solar energy technology. All the data related to sales, installations, after sales services, complaint redressal, preventive maintenance visits is collected and archived at the branches and then transferred to the head office using an ERP system. SECTION C. Proof of programme eligibility C.1. Location of the Programme of Activities (Physical/Geographical boundary) The boundary of the PoA in terms of a geographical area is defined as India. All VPAs associated with this PoA will be implemented within the geographical boundary of the PoA covering the states highlighted in black colour shown below. The first VPA under the PoA is a small scale PoA which has commenced operations in 06 July 2008. The boundary of the subsequent VPAs shall be determined by the location of the households/facilities where the project devices are installed, limited to territorial boundary of India. At present the PoA is spread significantly across six states in India i.e. Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Besides, initial sales have taken places in 4-5 other states where the PoA expects to grow substantially in future. Figure 1: PoA Boundary C.2. Programme Type Programme type Yes No Do the activities within the program, classify as a Renewable Energy project? ü Do the activities within the program classify as an End-use Energy Efficiency Improvement project? ü The Gold Standard POA - Passport GS Version 2.2 3 Do the activities within your program classify as a waste handling and disposal project? ü Please justify the eligibility of your programme: GS Eligibility as per section 1.2, Gold Standard Energy Toolkit version 2.2 Scale of PoA: The PoA is being developed as a small scale GS VER PoA. Host country or state: The host country for PoA is India Type of project: Renewable Energy Generation Greenhouse gases: CO2 CAP on GHG emissions: There is no CAP on GHG emissions from the PoA. The only cap applicable is on aggregate installed capacity of units installed under a VPA (limited to 15MW / 45MWth equivalent). Official Development Assistance (ODA): No ODA is involved in the PoA. The OdA declaration is being submitted on GS registry Project timeframe: The PoA is a retroactive PoA. The start date of the PoA is 28 November 2007 which is the date of first unit installed under the PoA. The first VPA has a start date of 06 July 2008 (date of first unit installed under VPA01) Other Certification Schemes: The project is not enrolled in any other certification scheme GS Eligibility as per Gold Standard Energy Mandatory Guidelines Annex C The credits generated by usage of the SWH and SPV under the PoA shall be owned by the CME, i.e. Orb Energy Private Limited. The transfer of ownership of credits shall be clearly communicated to the end user at the time of sale/installation or during SFR if not already communicated. In the VPA that is currently implemented by CME, the invoice mentions a statement that Orb retains legal title to all emission reduction associated with the installation and use of Company’s product and services. The invoice is signed by the end user giving consent on acceptance of all terms and conditions and is a pre-requisite before installation. The following figure illustrates the transfer of ownership of credits from user to Orb Energy Private Limited. The Gold Standard POA - Passport GS Version 2.2 4 The Gold Standard POA - Passport GS Version 2.2 5 Pre Announcement Yes No Was your programme previously announced? ü Explain your statement on pre announcement Revenue stream from carbon has been considered since the initial stages of program inception. Orb has already registered and issued a small scale project under GS Standard for the same technology /measure covering state of Karnataka. This PoA is an extension of the same to cover for regions outside Karnataka as well as include SPV and SWH installations scaling beyond the small scale limit. Although, Orb desired to develop the PoA earlier, but the state of carbon markets (absence of PoA framework, issues raised by the validating doE for GS 696 made Orb to limit the project Boundary to Karnataka and focus solely on registration and issuance from the same initially. Once the small scale project was registered and proceeds from sale of carbon credits were realized by Orb, it decided begin the GS documentation for extension of existing project to PoA. The chronology of events depicting carbon consideration is given below: Date Event Comment Reference1 29 May Executive Summary prepared by Orb The Executive Summary therefore https://db.tt/QkWO9SL 2006 Energy for starting business in India. The strongly substantiates that Orb A summary on page 1 clearly mentions an Energy had a clear vision of doing intention to start business in India: a pan-India business since “In light of above, now is the time for a conceptualization with carbon sizeable investment to capture and credits as inherent part of realise the opportunity in India.” business for not only Karnataka but for India as a whole. Further the summary on page 3 clearly mentions the following, substantiating that even before entry into business in India the company had a clear focus on having a pan-India operations: “The business will concentrate on developing its channel in Karnataka…………. Once established we will review which states to enter next (high potential are Andhra Pradesh and Kerala).