Mauritius - Compagnie Savannah Thermique Bagasse-Fuelled Cogeneration Project : environmental impact assessment

COMPAGNIE THERMIQUE de SAVANNAH LtCe CONSTRUCTION & OPERATION of a 83.0 MW COAL / BAGASSE-FIRED POWER PLANT at SAVANNAH ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT E1 625 July 2005 S.l.G.M.A Ove Arup & Partners Consulting Engineers  Compagnie Thermique de Savannah Operation of a dual coal/bagasse-fired Power Plant at Savannah Environmental Impact Assessment EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 In January 2004 the Central Electricity Board (CEB) launched a tender for the purchase and importation of electrical power on the National Grid. Compagnie Thermique de Savannah Ltee (hereinafter referred to as CTSav), a public liability societe company duly registered in Mauritius submitted an offer based on the implementation and operation of a dual coal/bagasse-fired 2x41.5MW steam power plant at La Baraque, and the construction of a 66kV transmission link from La Baraque to Union Vale. 2 CTSav's offer has subsequently been retained. A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has been substantially negotiated and concluded with the CEB on the 18 February 2005 for the sale to CEB of about of 335GWhE per year, power importation to the National Grid being modulated in function of customer demand (expected average production 335GWhE per year). 3 The Project will be located next to the La Baraque Sugar Factory in the district of Grand-Port - Savane, on a plot of land owned by Savannah Sugar Estate, and released for the Project as authenticated by a notary public. The land hitherto under cane, CTSav has submitted for the necessary Re-zoning and Land Conversion Permit. 4 SIGMA Ove Arup & Partners Consulting Engineers, in association with Dr Alan SAMSOON, have been commissioned for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), a mandatory exercise in conformity with the provisions of the Environment Protection Act 2002 (Mauritius). 5 Negative Impacts have been identified with the operation of the Power Plant. They are mainly associated with: Atmospheric emissions that will decrease the ambient air quality in the region. In particular the ambient level of Sulphur dioxide during the inter crop season when CTSav will operate on coal as combustible. Other coal/bagasse combustion products, and ashes (bottom ash or slag, and fly ashes) * Liquid effluents such as resin wash waters from the boiler water demineralization unit, oily and dust contaminated waters from the Plant * Hydrocarbon wastes (lube oil sludge, used lube oils) from the Plant * On-site storage of coal * Intensification of lorry traffic, noise and atmospheric emissions from road transportation of coal 6. The negative impacts that could result there from can be effectively mitigated by the implementation of the following measures: Increasing the stack gas ejection velocity in coal-combustion mode from 10 m/s to not lower than 20m/s susceptible of enhancing atmospheric dispersion of S02