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Compliance with environmental legislation
We have for many years had processes in place to ensure that
non-compliance with legal requirements is identified, reported
and investigated and that corrective and preventative measures
are implemented.
During the year our internal audit exercise, at a selection of
sites visited in the year, uncovered weaknesses in reporting
processes and controls designed to ensure that all environmental
legal contraventions were identified and reported to the
environmental liaison committee. Issues identified relate to
understanding and application of the corporate reporting
procedures and identification of legal contraventions.
As a result of these findings, we have engaged an external service
provider to assess the adequacy of reporting procedures and
design and operation of controls and reporting processes at all
significant sites. Any environmental legal contravention identified
through this process will be recorded in the 2009 annual report.
For this reporting period, 46 (2007: 50) environmental legal
contraventions were recorded.
Most of the environmental legal contraventions related to water
events. For the financial year, 6 (2007: 0) legal contraventions
were recorded in terms of the Eskom operational health
dashboard. The significant increase in the number compared to
the previous year is due to the inclusion of additional criteria
related to repeated legal contraventions.
One was due to a letter of censure following the cutting of
vegetation without the necessary permit.
A further incident was
related to a repeat of an event related to the non-compliance with
conditions of authorisation for the construction of a 132kV power
line. The significant increase in water-related contraventions was
as a result of higher-than-average rainfall, compounded
by human error and equipment failure, resulting in
unauthorised releases of water from our power stations.
This resulted in four such repeat events |
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A legal contravention is regarded as a repeat of a previous environmental contravention if:
| 1. |
it occurred within 12 months of the previous event |
| 2. |
it is a repeat in terms of the same legislation |
| 3. |
the event took place in the same business unit |
| 4. |
the event is related to plant/equipment (for example, oil holding dam, water holding dam, ash dam, and precipitator) failure; and the cause was the same (failure of procedure, personnel or equipment). In the case of project execution, this may in cases not be applicable |
| 5. |
the event resulted in the same risk/impact (for example, water contamination, air pollution, destruction of vegetation, “license to operate”) that has either persisted or increased (for example, this could be because no corrective action was taken or that action taken was not effective) |
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Biodiversity
We have over 366 000km of power lines, operate 27
existing power stations and have four new power stations
under construction, which means that our business
footprint on biodiversity needs to be monitored and
managed closely.
The significant threats in terms of biodiversity are
managed and controlled through our partnerships with
civil society to ensure best practice and specialist input.
This includes the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) for
avian impacts; BirdLife South Africa and the Middelpunt
Wetland Trust for the conservation of a sensitive
wetland and associated biodiversity next to the new
Ingula pumped-storage scheme; and the Wildlife and
Environment Society of SA (WESSA) for broader
environmental education programmes in the area of
energy and sustainability. |
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Vulture enclosure research
The vulture enclosure research project, a partnership
between Eskom and the Rhino and Lion Wildlife
Conservation NPO, is an alternative method to study
mitigation methodologies to prevent vultures and other
birds from being electrocuted on power lines. The project
is aimed at reducing bird electrocutions in the identified
danger zones on pylons through the application of costeffective
equipment such as insulation covers and bird
diverter methods.
The vulture enclosure will serve a dual purpose. Firstly, it
will allow the rehabilitated vultures to recuperate before
they are released back into the wild. Secondly, it will support
research studies in vulture behaviour on the identified
problem towers in order to prevent and limit the continual
vulture electrocutions on power lines.In the past, it was difficult and time-consuming to observe vulture behaviour on problematic Eskom structures. Mitigation methods were based on laboratory simulation studies, combined with field observations and assumptions. The research data obtained from this enclosure will be more accurate and less time-consuming when compared with the time it would take to collect the equivalent data and results from field studies. The outcomes will assist Eskom with other partnership programmes that focus on minimising Eskom’s impact on birds.
The vulture enclosure will enable the research team to monitor, in detail, the actual vulture behaviour patterns on the structures and their reactions towards the various mitigation methods that are applied. It will, therefore, serve as a field laboratory to approve effective mitigation products and the rehabilitation of injured vultures, thus building an effective and positive relationship with the environment.
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