A key priority in the Company’s Long-Term Development Programme for 2015–2019 is to ensure a more effective load of the grid with regard of requirements set in the Development Strategy for the Russian Electric Grid Complex.
The Company takes systemic efforts to ensure environmental safety in order to consistently reduce the environmental impact of its electric grid facilities. The aim of these efforts is to comply with the environmental law requirements, introduce
Leadership in Environmental Protection
Federal Grid Company won the 2015 Russian national competition “Leader of Environmental Protection Activities in Russia.” It gained recognition for proactive activities in environmental protection, efficient environmental management that is instrumental for sustainable development of the national economy, boosting of people’s health and improvement of environmental safety in the country
environmentally effective technologies, strengthen environmental control at the industrial facilities, involve employees in environmental protection, and ensure environmental safety and rational use of natural and energy resources.
The consistent implementation of environmental protection measures helps to minimise the Company’s environmental risks and maintain favourable environmental conditions in the regions where the Company has presence.
Environmental Policy
Environmental Policy and Implementation Programme are the fundamental documents for planning and implementation of environmental protection actions, environmental education, monitoring, internal environmental audit and industrial environmental control in order to ensure environmental safety and rational use of natural resources at the Company’s facilities.
IN WHAT AREA DOES FEDERAL GRID COMPANY INTEND TO IMPROVE ITS ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN THE NEAR FUTURE?
“The International Standards Organisation developed a new version of its international standard ISO 14001:2015 “Environmental Management Systems” and published it in 2015. The new standard changes the approach to the environmental management system and sets new requirements, including requirements to management of risks related to the environmental impact.
Federal Grid Company as a company that has an established environmental management system will face a three-year period of transition to the new version ISO 14001:2015. The key priorities in our plans for 2016–2018 will be to build a hierarchy in environmental management, involve employees in environmental protection actions, ensure environmental safety and rational use of natural and energy resources, achieve better understanding of our role and responsibility for the protection of environment in our operations.”
As part of co-operation with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF Russia), the Company took part in the worldwide Earth Hour by turning off power for one hour at 762 facilities on the last Saturday of March 2015
were saved during this action
The goal of Federal Grid Company’s Environmental Policy is to minimise the adverse impact on environment during electricity transmission and distribution. In order to achieve this goal, the Company drew up an Environmental Policy Implementation Programme for 2015–2019. The programme was drawn up in accordance with a decision of the Board of Directors and approved by the Chairman of the Management Board.
Besides having environmental and economic effects, implementation of this programme is aimed at raising the social relevance of the Company.
Environmental Policy Implementation Programme sets the targets that further detail the environmental policy commitments. This is done in order to achieve a phased reduction of the adverse impact on environment with regard of the Company’s technical and financial capacity.
Improving Environmental Control and Reporting
A Procedure for Internal Environmental Audit in MES and PMES Branches was approved in 2015 in order to optimise the procedures of environmental control and reporting, improve the quality of inspections and eliminate any possible environmental risks. The Rules establish a uniform approach to an internal audit of the environmental management system and industrial environmental control at the production facilities. In 2015, the Company inspected 372 facilities, or 39.8% of the total number of operation facilities.
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Developing Environmental Safety Standards
In 2015, the Company drafted standards “Environmental Safety of Electric Grid Facilities: Requirements to Maintenance and Repair” and “Environmental Safety of Electric Grid Facilities: Requirements to Design, Construction, Reconstruction and Liquidation.”
The blueprint standards were sent for review to the structural units of Federal Company’s Executive Office, JSC R&D Centre of FGC UES, Technical Supervision Centre, leading Russian R&D think tanks, design institutes and non-governmental environmental protection organisations.
PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY
Federal Grid Company, World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF Russia) and the Russian Bird Conservation Union monitored the effectiveness of actions implemented by a branch of MES East to prevent death of oriental storks on power lines.
In 2015, the Company installed 10,739 bird protection and bird deterring devices at high voltage lines 500/220/110 kV in the branches of MES East, MES Siberia, MES Centre, MES South and MES North-West. The total costs of these devices amounted to RUB13.26 million.
The efficiency of these actions is proven by the
fact that only a few cases of bird deaths on the
Company’s power lines were reported in the past
three years.
DEVELOPMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
- In 2015, the Company installed the environmental management system in four branches of MES Siberia, MES Ural, MES Volga and MES Western Siberia
- Measures were implemented to include all branches in the Company-wide system of environmental protection management
- Education was organised for employees of all branches to ensure their competence and awareness: 412 employees took a course in “ISO 14001:2004 Requirements,” and 56 employees took a course in “Internal Audit of the Environmental Management System”
- The Company received a certificate of compliance with the requirements of the international standard ISO 14001:2004 for its environmental management system
Water Consumption and Wastewater Discharge, thousand cubic meters
Environmental Performance in 2015
Environmental activities at Federal Grid Company’s subsidiaries are carried out in accordance with Environmental Action Plans that are approved annually.Water consumption has been on the downside trend since 2012 due to reduced losses as a result of measures aimed at the timely maintenance and repair of the water supply systems in MES and PMES branches. Wastewater discharges have been decreasing every year as a result of these measures.
The reduction of waste volumes in 2014–2015 was related to the reduced volume of repair and maintenance at industrial facilities of MES South, MES North-West and MES Western Siberia.
MITIGATING ADVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS BY USING ADVANCED ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS
- In the reporting year, higher-suspension supports were installed for 220 kV high-voltage transmission lines Kaluga-Sputnik (MES Centre). The environmental effect includes the reduced volumes of de-forestation, lower costs of clearing electricity transmission line paths, prompt installation without employing heavy vehicles; compliance with the requirements to electric and magnetic fields, radio interferences and acoustic noises.
- R&D focused on fire protection of transformers by using the water sprinkling technology. The Company developed an innovative system for extinguishing fires at oil transformers and installed it at SS 220 kV Tula (MES Centre). Its environmental effect includes a substantial reduction of water consumption (by 8 to 10 times), reduced fire extinguishing time, and prevention of possible oil spillage at the substation
Gross air pollutant emissions, tonnes
The volume of waste disposed in landfills also decreased, which indicates the reduction of adverse environmental impacts.
In 2015, the Company transferred 5,160 trichlorodiphenyl-containing condensers weighing 272.5 tonnes to licensed organisations for detoxification / deployment. The cost of this work (net of investment costs) amounted to RUB8,812.82 thousand (net of VAT).
Gross air pollutant emission slightly increases every year owing to the extended inventory of sources of emissions and setting parameters for new stationery sources. In 2015, 113 new draft standards for maximum permissible emissions were developed for Federal Grid Company’s branches.
The above-limit payments for negative environment impact increased slightly in 2015 due to the need to pay for wastewater disposal onto local terrain at a rate which is 25 times about the standard rate because there is no procedure for issuing permits for such disposals (MES East, MES Ural, MES South and MES North-West).
Federal Grid Company’s Payments for Adverse Environmental Impacts, RUB million
Federal Grid Company’s Current Environmental Protection Costs, RUB million
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: MAIN tASKS FOR 2016
- To approve the Procedure for Managing Trichlorodiphenyl-Containing Equipment and set uniform Company-wide requirements for all stages of using trichlorodiphenyl-containing equipment
- To confirm the consistency of the Company’s environmental management system with the requirements of ISO 14001:2004 (pass the supervisory audit successfully)
- To organise the transition of the Company’s environmental management system to the new version of ISO 14001:2015
- To approve corporate environmental safety standards for all stages of lifecycle of electric grid facilities
- To implement measures toward bird safety of electric grid facilities and prevention of facility outages caused by birds’ activity (in co-operation with ornithologists)