The United Nations’ Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) agency has approved an application by Ecuador’s 16.6-MW Calope hydroelectric project to sell carbon emissions credits.
The Executive Board of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change issued a registration December 27 for the run-of-river project, which has no dam, but has an hourly regulating reservoir on the Calope River in Cotopaxi Province.
Developer Enermax S.A. completed the project in December 2006, producing an average of 92,000 MWh annually for self-consumption by the La Favorita Consortium, with excess sold to the wholesale electricity market. The project features two horizontal Francis turbines manufactured by VA Tech Bouvier Hydro of France and generators by Leroy Somer of France.
Calope is annually to offset 66,185 metric tons of carbon emissions that otherwise would be produced by fossil fuel-fired power plants. Latin American lender Corporacion Andina de Fomento acted as intermediary for the Netherlands CDM Facility, which is purchasing the emissions reductions.
