PROJECT

Projects

Environmental & Social Review Summary

Project Number

38229

Company Name

TRICONBOSTON CONSULTING CORPORATION (PVT) LTD

Date ESRS Disclosed

Sep 29, 2016

Country

Pakistan

Region

Middle East

Last Updated Date

Jul 27, 2017

Environmental Category

B - Limited

Status

Active

Previous Events

Approved : Feb 15, 2017
Signed : Apr 7, 2017
Invested : Jul 19, 2017

Sector

Wind Power - Renewable Energy Generation

Industry

Infrastructure

Department

Regional Industry INF MCT

Project Description

IFC is considering providing loan(s) of up to US$75 million to Triconboston Consulting Corporation Private Limited (TBCCPL or the Company). The loan(s) would support the construction, operation and maintenance of three adjacent 50 MW (TBCCPL A, B & C total 150 MW) greenfield wind farms. The project site is in the Jhimpir Wind Corridor, Thatta District of Sindh Province in Pakistan, between Karachi and Hyderabad, approximately 50 km from Karachi and 100 km inland from the coast.

The project will install a total of 87 wind turbine generators (WTG) (29 at each sub-project). Each turbine will have a generating capacity of 1.7 MW and will require about 2.5 acres of land. Government of Sindh leased 1284acres (500 ha) of land to each TBCCPL 50 MW wind power plant. For all the three sub-projects (150 MW combined), the total land utilization will be 2025 acres (820 ha) out of total land area of 3852 acre. Depending on the final micrositing, WTGs may be spaced around 200m apart from one another in a series of rows and will have 103m rotor diameter, 80m hub height and 131m tip height. WTGs are manufactured by US based General Electric (GE). The landscape is semi-arid and sparsely populated. Isolated hamlets exist within the buffer area between TBCCPL A, B & C wind power plants, within the broader project site leased to the Company by Government of Sindh. The Company has designed the wind farm layout in such a way as to avoid physical and economic displacement and minimize the effect of shadow flicker and operational noise on the nearest hamlets. The closest sensitive receptor/residence is located 0.8 – 1 km from a WTG. The total footprint of the project is estimated to be less than 350 acres (i.e. wind turbine generators 2.5 acres/WTG x 87 WTGs, access road of about 60 acres, and a switchyard of about 10-15 acres) compared with the total 3,852 acres of the site. No physical or economic displacement of people is expected. Only the WTG land parcels and the project’s substation land parcel will get fenced by the Company for safety and security reasons. The majority of the project site of 3,714 acres will remain free for access to villagers for their routine activities including grazing of their cattle and seasonal cultivation.

TBCCPL is a special purpose vehicle majority-owned by Sapphire Group (the Sponsor). Sapphire Group is one of the oldest business groups in Pakistan with dominant presence in textile sector and now diversifying into power generation including renewable energy. The group has already established Sapphire Wind Power Company Limited (SWPCL), a 52.8 MW operating wind power plant in the same (Jhimpir) area.

This project will be an independent power producer and will sell electricity to the Central Power Purchasing Agency Guarantee Limited (CPPA-G) under a separate 20-year Energy Purchase Agreement (EPA) for each 50 MW sub-project. CPPA-G’s payment obligations under the EPAs will be guaranteed by the Government of Pakistan.

The construction work will be carried out by Chinese Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies HydroChina Corporation and HydroChina International Engineering Company Limited (HydroChina), which are Chinese State owned companies fully owned by Power China International. HydroChina worked with Sapphire group for their 52.8 MW Sapphire Wind Power Co Ltd.
The Company will also develop internal access roads to service the WTGs within each sub-project and access road from the existing public road. Between the three power plants there will be internal connecting road. A main construction camp will be developed at TBCCPL power plant B while two satellite facilities will be developed at TBCCPL power plants A & C.

The WTGs will be connected to a 132 kV high voltage switchyard in the power plant via a 33 kV underground or over ground electrical collection system based on land topography. Electricity from the project will be transmitted from this 132 kV switchyard to the National Transmission and Dispatch Company Limited (NTDC) / Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) 132 kV substation. NTDC will develop the connecting transmission line (about 20 km) from the 132 kV switchyard to their 132 kV substation. Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) examined the Company’s Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) for TBCCPL power plants A, B & C and accorded environmental approval in 2014.

It is expected that the parallel construction work will start during the last quarter of 2016 at TBCCPL power plant A, B & C and will be completed in 13-15 months. According to the Company’s initial examination, no major environmental and social (E&S) risks are anticipated in relation to the NTDC transmission line or the access road; however, the final social and environmental impacts associated with transmission line will be subject to review under the SEPA’s EIA process as well as additional review by IFC. The transmission line is considered as associated facility which is needed for the successful implementation of the project. The implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the responsibility of NTDC. Nevertheless, as per the agreed the Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP), the Company will monitor the progress of the EIA for the identified associated facility by keeping close contact with NTDC (ESAP Action No. 1(c)).

Overview of IFC's Scope of Review

IFC’s review of the project included (i) a site visit from June 6-9 2016 to: the project site, transmission line routes, and access road, including inspection of the operating SWPCL 52.8 MW Wind power plant in Jhimpir, the existing substation facility and the double 132 kV transmission line interconnected to the national grid shared by SWPCL and, and internal roads within the concession area; (ii) meetings with technical, environmental, and social members of the SWPCL team; (iii) discussions with the environmental and social monitoring consultants (Arch Associates) and the EPC contractor (HydroChina); (iv) meeting with one existing family in the new project site; and (v) desktop reviews of TBCCPL power plants A, B & C’s IEEs, the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP), bird monitoring study, and other operational policies and procedures including technical, environmental, health and safety and social documents, and assessments submitted by the Company, and prepared against applicable IFC Performance Standards (PS).
In addition, IFC used relevant information contained in the following three ESRSs that IFC disclosed for wind farm projects that are located in the same Jhimpir wind corridor: Zorlu Pakistan (56.4 MW), disclosed on April 11, 2011: Metro Power Company Limited (or “MPCL”, 50 MW), disclosed on August 22, 2013, and Gul Ahmed Wind Power Limited (50 MW) disclosed on November 13, 2014. IFC also reviewed Jhimpir Wind Farm Region Cumulative Impact Assessment document commissioned by OPIC (ERM, October 2015).

E & S Project Categorization and Applicable Standard

Environmental and Social Mitigation Measures

Stakeholder Engagement

Broad Community Support

Environmental & Social Action Plan