Abstract
M.Sc.
In South Africa, Eskom generates 91 % of all electricity produced. Most of this
electricity is generated by 10 coal-fired power stations, 6 of which is situated in the
Eastern Highveld region of Mpumalanga. Owing to the concentration of power
stations in this region, Eskom decided years ago to investigate the environmental
impacts of its generation actions and develop programmes to minimise these impacts.
After the identification of the various impacts Environmental Management Plans were
developed to manage and minimise the impacts. Although all the Eskom Power
Stations have Environmental Management Plans in place at present, the documents
differ in format and content. The Generation Environmental Management Group thus
decided that a Generic Environmental Management Plan (EMP) should be
developed, to ensure that station plans are developed to the same standard.
The purpose of this scription document is thus to develop such a Generic
Environmental Management Plan. Literature studies revealed very little about the
content of EMPs, therefore existing management plans were studied to enable the
development of a general format.
The format generally used is as follows:
Background on the project (power station);
Legislation applicable to the project (power station);
Identified impacts;
Impact Management Plans;
Monitoring of impacts and management plans;
Contingency Plans;
Accountable personnel;
Auditing.
Most management plans include communication, training and awareness programmes,
while others also address the social impacts of a project. This generic document will
only concentrate on the impacts on the natural environment.
Studies of the existing documentation on management plans, revealed that power
generation have impacts in 4 main areas of the environment, namely:
Air Pollution;
Water Pollution;
Waste Production;
Land Degradation.