# Can we split one big plant into several small Verra projects?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/verra-project-fragment-six-conditions

Not to stay under a capacity limit. VCS Standard v5.0 treats a project as a fragment of another when all six conditions hold: a methodology with a capacity limit, areas within 1 kilometre, the same proponent, the same activity, start dates within two years, and combined capacity above the limit.

## The six conditions, all of which must be true

1. The project applies a methodology with a capacity limit.
2. The project area is within 1 kilometre of the other project's area. This does not apply to mobile project activities under sectoral scope 7.
3. The project has the same project proponent as the other project.
4. It implements the same project activity as the other project.
5. Its start date is within two years of the other project's start date.
6. The two capacities added together exceed the capacity limit of the applied methodology.

## What it covers

The other project can be one registered with another greenhouse gas program, not only with Verra. The rule is separate from the plain requirement that no project, grouped or otherwise, exceeds the methodology's capacity limit.

## What it means for a factory group

If condition 6 is the only thing standing between two units and a limit, splitting them on paper does not help. Breaking any one condition changes the result, but only a real difference does that: a different owner, a different activity, or a site more than 1 kilometre away. Ask the verifier before you register the second unit.

## Example: two plants and an example capacity limit of 10 MW

- Plant A: 6 megawatts (MW). Plant B: 7 MW. Same owner, same activity, 600 metres apart, start dates 14 months apart.
- Conditions 1 to 5 hold, and 6 + 7 = 13 MW is above 10 MW, so condition 6 holds too. Plant B is a fragment of plant A.
- If B were 2.4 kilometres away, condition 2 would fail and B would not be a fragment. If the two added up to 9 MW, condition 6 would fail.

The 10 MW limit is an example, not any methodology's limit. Read the limit in the methodology you apply.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible does not register projects or decide fragmentation. It keeps dated invoices and bills for each site, which show which unit started when and how much each one runs.

- [Carbon credits](https://senseible.earth/carbon-credits)
- [What is a grouped project in Verra](https://senseible.earth/answers/what-is-a-grouped-project-in-verra)
- [Can a small business generate carbon credits](https://senseible.earth/answers/can-a-small-business-generate-carbon-credits)

Sources: [Verra, VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025), Sections 3.5.12 and 3.5.13](https://verra.org/documents/vcs-standard-v5-0/)

Last reviewed 2026-11-04. Section numbers are from VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025); re-check them when Verra publishes a new version.