I-DEV0279: Deviation from the revised monitoring plan with regard to the measurement methods in the landfill gas during the period from 01/01/2005 to 31/07/2006 before introducing DCS.

Wuxi Taohuashan Landfill Gas to Electricity (hereafter referred to as project activity) was registered on 9 April 2007 in accordance with the ACM0001 Version 04 with the fixed crediting period from 01/01/2005 to 31/12/2014.The project collects LFG and uses the methane captured in the gas to generate electricity and supplies the electricity to East China Power Grid (ECPG).
Description of noncompliance with monitoring plan (MP)
The project activity was commenced on 01/10/2004. The revised monitoring plan which has been approved by EB on 22/04/2009 stated that the monitoring parameters of LFG total, LFG electricity, T, P and WCH4 will be monitored as below
“The Continuous monitoring method is commendatory, which could record the data by computer; In emergency, if the condition is not fulfilled, taking the record period 2 hours by staff, electronic archived, check the data everyday, and totalize the data every month.”
Monitoring parameters of the flow of the landfill gas (LFG total, LFG electricity), temperature (T), pressure (P) and methane fraction (WCH4) were measured continuously as per the applied methodology ACM0001 version 04 and revised monitoring plan approved. With regard to the recording frequency, it was found by SGS verification team that during the period from 01/01/2005 to 31/07/2006 before a Distributed Control System (DCS) has been introduced and put into operation, the real-time values of temperature (T), pressure (P) and methane fraction (WCH4) were recorded manually every 2 hours by well-trained staff. From 01/08/2006 onwards, as described in the revised monitoring plan, DCS with automatic data process devices have been used for continuous recording of monitoring data of these parameters.
Therefore during the period from 01/01/2005 to 31/07/2006, the recording methods of monitoring parameters of LFG total, LFG electricity, T, P and WCH4 were deviated from the revised monitoring plan because using manual recording at two hours interval can not be classified as an emergency plan.
Solutions to address the noncompliance
The monitoring methodology ACM0001 Version 04 allows ‘continuously/periodically’ measurement without specifying a minimum frequency for monitoring and recoding of the parameters of LFG total, LFG electricity, T, P and WCH4, thus in both of the approved two monitoring plans (ex-monitoring plan and the revision of monitoring plan), manual recording at 2-hour frequency is considered as appropriate as an emergency plan while the continuous monitoring method is commendatory. This minor non-compliance has been corrected by adopting the continuous monitoring method as of 01/08/2006.
Besides, we would like to propose adopting the same frequency (2-hour) in determining the amount of methane destruction during the period from 01/01/2005 to 31/07/2006 of the project activity, details are as below:
(1) Standardized gas quantity of the landfill gas of the 2 hours:
LFG0,2h = P * T0* LFG / (T * P0) (Nm3)
where:
P: the instantaneous pressure recoded every 2 hours to represent the value for the whole 2 hours ;
T: the instantaneous temperature recorded every 2 hours to represent the value for the whole 2 hours;
LFG: difference of the accumulative value at beginning and ending of the corresponding 2 hours;
T0: 273 K
P0: 1 atm
(2) Quantity of the methane in the landfill gas (2 hours)
MDele,2h = LFG0,2h * WCH4 * DCH4 (t)
where:
WCH4: the instantaneous methane fraction (%) recorded every 2 hours to represent the value for the whole 2 hours. Which was calculated as per “guidelines to calculate the fraction of methane in the landfill gas from periodical measurements Version 01”(EB48 Annex13);
DCH4: Methane density at 273 K, 1 atm
(3) Total quantity of the methane
MDele,y = ∑MDele,2h (t)
(4) Emission reduction of the methane :
ERy = MDele,y * GWPCH4 (t)

The deviation does not require an amendment to the approved revised monitoring plan and registered PDD of the project since this deviation is only contributed to the monitoring period from 01/01/2005 t0 31/07/2006 without DCS installed.

As explained above, considering the monitoring parameters of the flow of the landfill gas (LFG total, LFG electricity), temperature (T), pressure(P) and methane fraction (WCH4) were measured at 2-hour frequency which is allowed in the approved monitoring plan as an emergency plan, and in compliance with applied methodology ACM0001 version 04, the accuracy and completeness of the monitoring parameters during the period from 01/01/2005 to 31/07/20006 are deemed not reduced as a result of the deviation provided the calculation method as proposed above can be adopted.
Besides, as per EB48 Annex 13 “Guidelines to calculate the fraction of methane in the landfill gas from periodical measurements Version 01”, based on the data collected every two hours, the value correspondent to the lower bound of the 95% confidence level is to be used as the final value for fraction of methane in the landfill gas in a year. The above calculation method is appropriate.
Thus it is not expected that this would impact on the estimates of the emissions reduction for the specified monitoring period from 01/01/2005 to 31/07/2006.