Environmental and Social Assessment and Management System:
In the beginning of 2008, MEGH was contracted by the Ministry of Electricity of KRG to construct SGPS producing 750 MW of electricity, which was amended later to 1,000 MW. The construction started in 2008, and at that time, SGPS was not required to conduct an environmental and social impact assessment by the KRG. In 2012, when gas turbines No. 7 and 8 were under construction, the Ministry of Environment recommended SGPS to prepare an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (“ESIA”). SGPS prepared an ESIA only for an internal use of SGPS, and was never submitted to the authorities for review. This ESIA did not include any impact assessment such as air dispersion modeling, water intake impact assessment, etc. In 2013, MGES started the conversion of the SGPS from OCGT to CCGT, but no ESIA was required or prepared for the CCGT conversion. Despite this, SGPS project is considered to be in compliance with the local environmental requirements, according to official letter, dated May 21, 2014, issued by the Environmental Protection and Improvement Board of the KRG to MGES. SGPS, together with other two IPPs (Duhok OCGT and Erbil CCGT), are working to obtain ISO 9001 certification by the end of 2015.
As per ESAP action No. 1, SGPS will commission a Rapid ESIA which includes: (i) air dispersion modeling to confirm that CCGT operations will not have major adverse air quality impacts (and, if need be, to propose corrective actions, including the effects of water injection which is being considered by MEGH), (ii) social impacts of SGPS water use, including abstraction from two wells about 12 km from SGPS and water intake from Zab River through a 30 km water pipeline, (iii) ambient noise impact assessment for workers within SGPS site and residents of the closest settlements, (iv) preparation of an Environmental and Social Management Plan specifying mitigation measures and environmental monitoring programs, including retrofitting a continuous emissions monitoring system, and (v) preparation of a Stakeholder Engagement Plan.
In the future, SGPS will be required to send electricity from CCGT operation to the grid via the planned new 400 kV transmission line to be developed by MoE KRG. At this moment, the length or routing of the 400 kV transmission line is still to be determined. As per ESAP action No. 2, SGPS will endeavor to use its influence with MoE KRG to ensure that the connecting 400 kV transmission line will be developed with an appropriate ESIA, and in accordance with PS objectives.
Policy:
SGPS management established its “Environmental Policy Statement” in April 2013. This policy describes SGPS commitment to protecting human health and natural resources, promoting environmental stewardship, and implementing innovative environmental technologies and practices. Further, as part of its HSE Procedures, SGPS prepared “Health, Safety and the Environment Policy”, and “Sust
ainable Development Policy” to be formally adopted. SGPS will formally adopt these two policy documents as per ESAP action No. 3.
Management Programs:
SGPS OCGT units have been operational since August 2012. SGPS has extensive health and safety programs to maintain and improve performance in this area. SGPS OCGT units are operating mainly on gas with occasional usage of liquid fuel oil (about 6 to 14%). SGPS currently does not have any environmental monitoring activities. MEGH’s Vision document signed by Chief Executive Officer presents various objectives including “To monitor stack emissions, ambient air quality, noise level”. In line with this objective, and as described above, SGPS will establish and implement a detailed Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) for the CCGT operation, describing the stack emission monitoring program, ambient air quality monitoring program, and noise monitoring program (for both the occupational noise levels within the plant and ambient noise levels at the closest residential receptors).
ENKA, the EPC contractor for the CCGT conversion, is using its “HSE Procedure, Environmental Management Plan for the Sulaymaniyah Combined Cycle Power Project” to manage environmental health and safety performance of the construction activities related to SGPS conversion to the CCGT plant. ENKA has a HSE Department and HSE Manager on site. No major HSE risks have been identified related to the CCGT conversion by ENKA.
Organizational Capacity and Competency:
SGPS has a Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Department with 28 employees. Under the HSE Manager, there are four teams: (i) security supervision, (ii) health coordinator / nurses, (iii) fire-fighting, and (iv) safety management. At MEGH level, there is an HSE Director who oversees the EHS performance of all the three IPPs in their portfolio (Erbil, Dohuk, and Sulaymaniyah). Currently, since SGPS is not conducting any environmental management / monitoring activities, there is no environmental monitoring/management team at the HSE Department. SGPS will establish an environmental monitoring team within the HSE Department as per ESAP action No. 4.
SGPS provides trainings to employees on HSE areas. In 2014, training man-hours by HSE Department was over 2,000 man-hours, next to the training for operation (7,101 man-hours) or the training for mechanical aspects (5,435 man-hours).
SGPS has contracted Sulaymaniyah University to conduct water, transformer oil and turbine lube oil analysis, in addition to all other analysis in the specific time according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. In implementing the environmental monitoring activities, SGPS is considering to contact the same university to help enhance regional technical capacity in KRG.
Emergency Preparedness and Response:
The HSE Department of SGPS has responsibilities to (i) supervise the fire-fighting system and foam system, (ii) provide all staff with training
on emergency preparedness and response, (iii) check that the siren system is functioning properly, and (iv) install warning and emergency signs. SGPS HSE Procedures include three procedures “Emergency Preparedness and Response Program”, “Emergency Response” and “Crisis Management”. The first procedure describes type of emergency (fire, personal injury, rescue of personnel, rescue of personnel from confined space, chemical spill, oil spill and evacuation and mustering), operation, maintenance and testing of equipment provided (fire detectors and alarms, fire extinguishers, firewater pumps, sprinkler system, foam system, chemical spill kit, oil spill kit, etc.), and tests, trials and drills for emergency systems (fire-fighting, medical emergency, evacuation / mustering, and crisis management). The second procedure describes what procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency (site emergency alarms, mustering and accounting for people, emergency and chemical safety data sheets, fire, chemical / oil release, first aid & accident, leakage of fuel gas, bomb scare) and includes relevant action plans (fire fighting action plan, chemical spillage action plan, work accident action plan, medical emergency action plan). The last procedure describes procedures to be followed in the event of a serious emergency which constitute a major crisis for the company (significant harm to personnel or third parties such as fatalities or major disabilities, substantial property damage, such as associated with a major fire or explosion, significant environmental pollution or damage, terrorist threats or actions, sabotage and bomb scares, and natural disasters, e.g. earthquakes, flooding etc.).
Monitoring and Review:
The HSE Department of SGPS produces HSE Monthly, Quarterly and Annual Reports mainly reporting health and safety activities (medical attentions by the employees, statistics of total man hours worked, lost time injuries, HSE toolbox meetings, health and safety and firefighting trainings, work permits and risk assessment performed, implementation of Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) practices, updated HSE management structure). This shows that SGPS has established a system to manage and monitor health and safety performance of the SGPS operation, but does not have any environmental monitoring activities in place. SGPS has its own chemical laboratory to conduct fuel quality of the secondary liquid fuel. The ESMP to be developed as per the ESAP No. 1 will include detailed environmental monitoring programs for air emissions, ambient air quality, noise, liquid effluents, hazardous and non-hazardous waste generation and disposal in line with good international industry practice.