AIR QUALITY BILL

Comments from Eskom

Steve LennonManaging Director - Resources & Strategy

Share of Global Energy Consumption (WEC)

North America

South andCentral America

Africa

Former Soviet UnionWestern Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East

30%30%

25%

19% 17%

4%

3%

2%

SA ENERGY POLICY

The Energy Policy of South Africa, provides valuable high level guidance regarding the

priorities related to the energy sector. The five priority areas for South African energy policy

are:

increasing access to affordable energy services; improving energy governance; stimulating economic development; managing energy related environmental

impacts; securing supply through diversity.

PARTICULATE EMISSIONS

• LOW SULPHUR COAL USED FROM INCEPTION• INTERNATIONAL NORM FOR SO2 EMISSION

REDUCTION PROGRAMMES• EXPORT BENEFIT

CURRENT GASEOUS EMISSION CONTROL

ESKOM AMBIENT AIR QUALITY MONITORING NETWORK

AIR QUALITY IN MPUMALANGA

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Vaal Triangle Central Mpumalanga Leandra

NOx (ppb) SO2 (ppb) FPM (µg/m3)

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL

• Process– The consultation process could have

been improved

• Essential requirement to consider the economic, social and technical implications in decision making, whilst recognising the need for long term improvements in ambient air quality and environmental performance

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL

• There are many areas of the AQB where consultation with stakeholders is a necessity – establishment of a national framework;– management plans;– pollution prevention plans and– issues related to the licensing authority

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL• Strategic issues for the Electricity Supply Industry

– The ESI has been established as a single integrated power distribution network and not individual power stations

– National Integrated Resource Plan, is carried out at a strategic level and projections of supply and demand side options to meet long-term load forecasts

– Regulation by entities may have an unintended knock-on effect in terms of impact on the network as a whole, and can be disproportionate to the originally intended impact

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL• Strategic issues for the Electricity Supply Industry

– The ESI is and has always operated as a strategic entity in relation to the vital resource of electricity within South Africa

– Electricity underpins many of the objectives of sustainable development and in particular, government policy as articulated in the White Paper on the Energy Policy for South Africa and GEAR

– The ESI should therefore be accorded the status of a strategic industry, as a result of the special challenges that intimately affect the national interest

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL

• Strategic issues for the Electricity Supply Industry– Licensing considerations should occur at a

national level for the ESI, in conjunction with the relevant local and/or provincial authorities

– Exemptions should be structured to allow for emergency or abnormal start-up situations

• The AQB provides for a national framework, setting national norms and standards

• Standards South Africa initiated a process for defining ambient air quality standards through a multi-stakeholder committee

• The suggested framework outlines a comprehensive process for:– defining current air quality,– time frames for implementation or achievement

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL

• Ambient air quality standards need to be set within a defined framework, which takes into consideration the varied and sometimes conflicting factors associated with the management of air quality

• Ambient air quality must be managed in a holistic manner and standards cannot be set in isolation without consideration of associated socio-economic factors and the implications of setting timeframes for the achievement of standards.

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL

• It is strongly recommended that the proposed Standards South Africa standard provide the basis of the National Framework identified in the Air Quality Bill in Chapter 2

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL

• Environmental impact assessments

– A parallel process for conducting an EIA on a new plant and obtaining a emissions licence must be considered

– Environmental impact assessments in terms of Section 24 of NEMA should not as a norm, be required retrospectively in respect of existing facilities

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL

• Offences– Section 48 of the AQB provides for offences– It is inappropriate that isolated contraventions

should allow a person to be branded someone who is not a fit and proper person and be found guilty of an offence

– Proposed that section 48 (1) (b) be amended to read as follows:

“(b) consistently and substantively contravenes or fails to comply with a condition or requirement of an atmospheric emission license;”

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL

• Transitional ambient air quality standards– Section 60 has been substantially modified – Specific interim guidelines have been

detailed without stakeholder consultation– It is abnormal to write guidelines into

legislation– The guidelines should retain their current

status until standards have been determined

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL

• The Air Quality Bill also be tabled before other relevant parliamentary portfolio committees, in particular the Minerals and Energy Portfolio Committee

ESKOM’S RESPONSE TO THE BILL

Thank you