Environmental Policy

Environment protection is a strictly controlled and regulated area in the energy and mining industry. Notwithstanding the applicable general provisions, TAURON Group, taking responsibility for the consequences of using natural resources and adopting in July 2017 a document entitled TAURON Group’s Environmental Policy, and TAURON Group’s Climate Policy in November 2019, emphasized that it was ready to take actions that went beyond legal obligations.

TAURON Group’s Environmental Policy (Environmental Policy) adopted by the Management Board in 2017, defines TAURON Capital Group’s approach to the management of the issues related to the impact made by its operations on the natural environment, including the direction of its environmental activities and the principles it will follow in environment related matters. The Environmental Policy is the benchmark for assessing all of the activities of TAURON Capital Group’s subsidiaries in the area of environment protection and environmental management.

The Environmental Policy documents the values and the vision followed by TAURON Capital Group with respect to making an impact on the natural environment. The main principle of the Environmental Policy is to limit both the direct, as well as the indirect impact on the environment and to conduct responsible communications, ensuring the understanding of the operations of TAURON Capital Group that may impact the environment.

TAURON Capital Group, in accordance with the regulations and administrative practices in force on the territory of its operations, takes into account the needs related to environment protection and acts in a way that contributes to accomplishing a broader objective, which is sustainable development, and in particular the implementation of the closed-circuit economy (the so-called circular economy).

DUE DILIGENCE PROCEDURES AND INTERNAL REGULATIONS

Due to diverse production and service profiles of TAURON Capital Group’s subsidiaries, their impact on the environment varies significantly, therefore the principles of Environmental Policy are addressed in the individual internal documents of the individual subsidiaries in a way corresponding to their role in TAURON Capital Group’s value system.

Minimizing negative impacts on the environment is effectively implemented taking into account the specifics of the sector, technological development and access to environmentally friendly technologies. Some of TAURON Capital Group’s subsidiaries have implemented a certified environment management system in accordance with the ISO14001 standard. TAURON Wytwarzanie, representing conventional electricity generation, has additionally received the European Community’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS), the EU’s environmental certification system, aimed at creating a sustainable development culture in an organization and efficient management of available resources and energy, operating pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on voluntary participation by organizations in the European Community’s Eco-Management and Audit Scheme.

Nowe Jaworzno Grupa TAURON facility commissioned in November 2020 is characterized by the highest environment management quality standards, high efficiency of fuel energy conversion into electricity and is equipped with the most modern environment protection devices with respect to flue gases treatment, water conditioning and sewage treatment. The fuel for the new unit is one of the best quality fuels on the market.

TAURON Capital Group is monitoring the main aspects of the direct and indirect environment impact of its operations on an ongoing basis. Such types of measures include, for example, monitoring the emissions of NOx, SO₂ compounds and dusts into the atmosphere.

TAURON Group’s 2020 emissions are well below the levels set as maximum permitted annual loads of substances released into the atmosphere according to the permits. The above is due to the fact that all working generating units of TAURON Wytwarzanie and TAURON Ciepło achieve the sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and dust concentration levels below the current permitted values, and the SO₂ and NO₂ concentration levels for the 200 MW units and biomass fired boilers (RES) reach a similar level to the new lower limits set out in the BAT conclusions that will apply from 2021.

In 2020, despite the COVID 19 pandemic, almost all of the investment tasks related to the modernization of the air protection installation at Łaziska and Jaworzno III Power Plants, scheduled for this period, were completed, and thanks to that the coal units planned for further operation, which are also the participants of the capacity market, will be prepared by August 2021 for the new environmental requirements specified in the BAT conclusions, which will then become effective. TAURON Group’s costs and expenditures for projects related to environment protection are presented below.

TAURON Group’s total capital expenditures on projects directly related to environment protection in 2020 came in at nearly PLN 280 million, which represented approx. 91% of TAURON Capital Group’s total outlays on environment protection and approx. 7% of expenditures, thus increasing the value of fixed assets used for the protection of the environment.

ACTIONS BRINGING ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS TAKEN AND RESULTS ACHIEVED

The coal power units, modernized ecologically, will meet the requirements of the BAT conclusions and, at the same time, will contribute to a further reduction of the emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust to the atmosphere, and to the additional reduction of emissions of other air pollutants, such as hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride as well as mercury.

The program aimed at adapting TAURON Group’s generating units to comply with the operational conditions in force beyond 2021 included TAURON Wytwarzanie’s following ecological investments:

• Jaworzno III Power Plant, units no. 1, 3, 5 – the construction of the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) installations,
• Łaziska Power Plant, units no. 9, 10, 11, 12 – the refurbishment of the existing selective catalytic reduction (SCR) installations,
• Łaziska Power Plant, units no. 9 and 10 – the refurbishment of the wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) installation, including erecting the additional desulfurization level, connecting the flue gas ducting and construction of the new plastic flue gas ducting in the stack,
• Łaziska Power Plant – the refurbishment of the flue gas desulfurization (FGD) installation’s sewage treatment plant.

The total budget of the Program, based on the concluded contracts for the implementation of the above projects, is currently (due to the occurrence of COVID-19 a budget increase is possible) approx. PLN 270 million, of which approximately PLN 234.5 million was spent in 2020.

The program of adapting to the BAT conclusions, in terms of the pro-ecological investment projects, was mostly completed in December 2020, and its closing is expected, among others due to the COVID-19 impact, in the second half of 2021, after a series of the performance tests, during which the emission limit values compliant with or stricter than the requirements of the BAT conclusions will be verified.

TAURON Group’s other production units, which will be operated in the subsequent years from 2021 onwards and to which the requirements of the BAT conclusions will apply, will also meet them, because they have either been modernized in previous years in such a way that they meet the requirements of the “BAT conclusions” or have obtained appropriate derogations.

The expected ecological effects for the environment stemming from the implementation of the BAT Program and specified solely for TAURON Group’s modernized generation units (Łaziska Power Plant and Jaworzno III Power Plant units) will allow, in the coming years, to reduce the emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides into the air, as compared to 2019, by the following amounts:

• SO₂ emissions reduction – reduction of emissions by a total of approx. 153 tons/year, (Łaziska Power Plant units no. 9 and 10),
• NOx emissions reduction – reduction of emissions by a total of approx. 697 tons/year, (Jaworzno III Power Plant, units no. 1, 3, 5 and Łaziska Power Plant, units no. 9-12).

TAURON Ciepło is currently implementing an investment project in Kamienna Góra that involves the construction of a gas-fired cogeneration system with a capacity of approx. 3 MW, which is the next stage of abandoning solid fuels in the process of generating district heat.

As part of the investment and sustainable development program, the tasks related to connecting new facilities to TAURON Ciepło’s district heating networks were carried out and the Low Emission Elimination Program was continued by successive connecting of the individual facilities, previously heated using solid fuels.

TAURON Ciepło modernized the water management system at Zakład Wytwarzania Tychy.

TAURON Dystrybucja, by implementing the modernization and replacement of the existing assets on an ongoing basis, especially the tasks related to the alteration of the switchgear switch rooms or transformer/switch substations, directly contributes to the improvement of the soil and groundwater safety.

TAURON Group assumes responsibility for taking care of the natural environment and the consequences of using its resources. The Group’s subsidiaries estimate that the amount of charges to be paid for the business use of the environment in 2020 is approximately PLN 30.43 million, which is illustrated above.

Following the principle of resource efficiency, TAURON Group is monitoring and optimizing also the consumption of water used for technological process purposes on an ongoing basis. This is done by closing the water circuits and by recirculating water with relatively good parameters to other production processes, with lesser requirements, for reuse.

The Group’s energy production facilities with the highest generation efficiency (NJGT’s 910 MW unit and TAURON Wytwarzanie’s Łagisza Power Plant in Będzin) and the highest quality requirements for the steam and water (combined) cycles, were equipped with water conditioning (treatment) installations based on modern membrane techniques. This means the minimum use of chemicals in the treatment process, which makes the entire process safe for the natural environment. In some water treatment processes, electrolysis processes are used instead of chemicals.

The consumption of water used in the production processes by TAURON Capital Group in 2020 is shown below.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY – ACTIONS TAKEN AND RESULTS ACHIEVED

TAURON Capital Group is undertaking numerous actions aimed at minimizing the negative impact on the environment. Regarding this aspect it is also actively looking for new directions and areas of activity in order to reuse the by-products of its operations. To this end, in accordance with the principles of the circular economy, it is implementing the combustion and mining by-products management (utilization) processes.

In 2020, 4.3 million Mg of the process by-products, coming from thermal combustion and mining of coal, was generated, with as much as 65% of that quantity brought to the market as full value products to be used, among others, in the construction, road building, mining or agricultural sector. This means that in 2020 the share of by-products in waste increased by 14% as compared to 2019. The balance of the waste was handed over to further authorized recipients with whom TAURON Capital Group’s subsidiaries have agreements in place that guarantee its further economic utilization, among others in land reclamation, macro-leveling and filling of the post-mining voids in mining.

TAURON Capital Group is seeking to implement the model of circular economy. It is planned that the maximum quantity of the process waste generated should be used within TAURON Capital Group, thus reducing the consumption of natural resources and the carbon footprint.

TAURON Wytwarzanie brought as much as 100% of ashes and boiler slag coming from 6 system power plants to the market as by-products in 2020. They were used in construction, road engineering (building), mining and agriculture. Fly ash and slag from Nowe Jaworzno Grupa TAURON’s new 910 MW unit are of such good quality that they have been introduced to the market as by-products since the unit’s commissioning in November 2020, thus obtaining the status of full-value, certified building materials.

TAURON Capital Group’s power plants produced 132 thousand Mg of ashes in 2020 that was used as valuable raw material in fire prevention by the coal mines. Ashes from TAURON Capital Group’s power plants and combined heat and power plants cover 100% of the demand for ashes to be used for fire prevention at TAURON Wydobycie’s coal mines.

100% of TAURON Ciepło’s by-products of the combustion of fuels for the energy generation purpose, i.e. 181 000 Mg, is reused in various industries.

TAURON Wydobycie processes post-mining waste, as a result of which high-quality construction and road aggregates are obtained. 772,000 Mg of aggregates and materials produced from the post-mining waste were placed on the market in 2020. Very good quality parameters of the aggregates produced from the Brzeszcze Mine allowed for changing the status thereof to by-products without the need to subject them to any additional processing.

The Group focuses on local cooperation and the use of waste materials, using the waste stored in settling tanks and at waste dump (landfill) sites. More than 800 000 tons of ash and slags were delivered to the construction of the S19 expressway near the Stalowa Wola power plant.

All of the above activities contribute to reducing the consumption of natural resources, e.g. sand or gravel.

The reclamation of the energy waste landfill in Kędzierzyn-Koźle, after the former Blachownia Power Plant, was completed in 2020. Accepting of the waste for landfill at this site was discontinued in January 2014, and its final closure process began in 2019. The furnace waste landfill is an above the ground landfill and covers a total area of approx. 74 ha. The reclamation is carried out in two stages: as the technical and biological reclamation.

BIODIVERSITY – ACTIONS TAKEN AND RESULTS ACHIEVED

The Group has knowledge of the areas that are valuable from the nature point of view, whose locations are subject to the Group’s impact, including the NATURA 2000 network areas. One of such areas is even created as part of the industrial infrastructure of Zakład Górniczy Brzeszcze (Brzeszcze Coal Mine), which was established in order to provide the hydrotechnical protection of the Upper Vistula against saline underground waters coming from the drainage of hard coal mines. The “Brzeszcze” underground water retention and dosing reservoir, as well as the place of discharge, is located in the Natura 2000 protected area: Special Bird Protection Area “Stawy w Brzeszcze” (Brzeszcze Ponds) PLB 120009, with an area of 3 065.9 ha. This area covers the breeding pond complexes in the upper Vistula valley, located on both sides of the river. The Vistula river, meandering in its valley, creates small oxbow lakes. There are about 14 species of birds from Annex I of the Birds Directive (out of 180 contained in the directive) and 5 species from the Polish Red Book (PCK) in the nature refuge. During the breeding season, the area is inhabited by at least 1% of the national population of the following bird species from the Polish Red Book: Little bittern, Purple heron, Whiskered tern, Black-crowned night heron, Common moorhen, Gadwall, Common redshank, Black-headed gull, Black-necked grebe. A relatively high numbers are reached by: Eurasian bittern, Black tern and Great crested grebe.

In addition, Kopalnia Wapienia “Czatkowice” is also conducting environmental monitoring pursuant to the legal provisions.

Ekoenergia has completed the three-year post -implementation monitoring with respect to avifauna and chiropterofauna, carried out for the Marszewo wind farm (18 MW – Nosalin), located in the vicinity of Nosalin and Pałowo in the Postomino municipality. In February 2020, the results of the post-implementation monitoring, indicating a minor scale collision of the fauna with the turbines of the said wind farm, were approved by the Regional Director for Environmental Protection in Szczecin, who accepted them in full and thus did not raise any objections to the continued operation of the facility.

The main conclusions from the monitoring carried out by Kopalnia Wapienia “Czatkowice” in 2020 are as follows:

Due to the protection and restoration of biodiversity, in 2020 TAURON Ekoenergia commenced investment tasks aimed at restoring routes for the migratory fish species in the Bóbr River within the Olszna and Kraszewice hydro-junctions. Salmonids will be taken into account when designing fish passes. It should be noted that the Olszna site is located within the borders of the Natura 2000 area – bird areas (PLB020005), while the following protected species: Amur bitterling, Common barbel, Common nase, Common dace, Vimba, Crucian carp, Stone loach, Spined loach, Misgurnus fossilis, Brown trout, Sea trout, Thymallus thymallus, Burbot, European bullhead, European river lamprey, Brook lamprey and European eel, currently inhabit the waters of the Bóbr river.

SEE ALSO:

Ability to access and use the natural capital

Production capital