The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is an instrument established under the Kyoto Protocol aimed at achieving sustainable development while contributing to the cost-effective mitigation of climate change.

It allows Parties to the Protocol to meet part of their reduction commitments abroad - notably in developing countries - where specific greenhouse gas (GHG) abatement costs are lower. Simultaneously, this can allow developing countries to attract investments in clean energy technology and assist them in reaching a sustainable development path. Under the CDM, the GHG emissions that are avoided through the use of clean energy technologies (in comparison to what would have been emitted had polluting energy technologies been adopted) will generate 'certified emission reduction units' (CERs) for the investor. These CERs can then be offset against the investing Party's emission allowance, effectively reducing the emissions reduction measures that need to be implemented domestically.

The CDM should therefore be a suitable vehicle for the implementation of PV projects in developing countries. However, CERs, as the name suggests, require that the amount of avoided emissions needs to be certified. This represents a potential problem for small, distributed energy technologies such as PV solar home systems (SHS), as monitoring of all such systems would be impractical.

To address this problem, the Dutch PV Export Group, with funding from Novem, has commissioned a study to assess the eligibility of SHS under the CDM and determine a simple reference CER calculation procedure. Details of eight solar home system projects and field studies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America were evaluated. The case studies show that savings of kerosene for lighting provide the largest contribution to CO2 displacement. In some cases, savings of candles and battery charging also contribute.

In order to pave the way for PV SHSs in the current CDM negotiations, the study proposes that a simple standardized emission value appears to be the most appropriate approach to use. Based on information from the existing case studies and factors such as upstream emissions, the study concludes that an abatement potential of 200 kg CO2 per 50 Wp SHS per year is a conservative but safe standard emission reduction value.

A second phase of work and further consultation with stakeholders is now under way aimed at refinement of the streamlined processes for SHSs in the CDM. Recommendations arising from this work will be presented at the next round of climate talks.

Contact:

• Jan Cloin, ECN
  Fax: +31(0)20 49 22 812
  E-mail: cloin@ecn.nl

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