Environmental protection

Environmental Management

The Company pays special attention to environmental management issues. DTEK Energy has adopted a uniform environmental management system pursuant to the requirements of the international standard ISO 14001.

The environmental management system is a part of the corporate governance system and an important element of risk management. Implementation of the uniform approach to environmental management at all Group enterprises on the basis of this system is good for the competitiveness and investment attractiveness of DTEK Energy.

Advantages of ISO 14001 implementation:

• creating a basis for the consistent environmental work;
• increasing environmental efficiency of the enterprises;
• increasing the focus of the management of the enterprises at environmental protection issues;
• raising awareness, building a responsible attitude of personnel of the enterprises to environmental protection and compliance with the established environmental requirements;
• ensuring the efficient management of the enterprise under the current legislation on the environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources;
• raising the competitiveness and investment attractiveness of the Company enterprises.

The environmental standard ISO 14001 was implemented at DTEK Energy enterprises in 2008–2015. Consequently, the Company developed uniform corporate requirements in the field of environmental protection, identified environmental aspects, risks and opportunities, and created an efficient system for their management. This laid a solid foundation for further consistent environmental activities of the Company and made it possible to use innovative methods in environmental management and to constantly improve the environmental performance of DTEK Energy enterprises.

Investments in environmental protection

The Company invests funds in equipment renewal and process upgrading in order to mitigate the adverse environmental impact of its production activities. The main areas of environmental protection at DTEK enterprises include: air protection (reconstruction of electrostatic precipitators at TPPs), protection and sustainable use of water resources, land protection and waste management (increasing slag disposals, recycling of ash sludge, restoration of waste dumps, etc.), optimization of the use of hazardous substances and materials, and others. The general costs of DTEK Energy for environmental activities in 2018–2020 amounted to UAH 3.4 bln.

Air protection

Full membership of Ukraine in the Energy Community requires that generating enterprises fulfil requirements of Directive 2001/80/EC “On the Limitation of Emissions of Certain Pollutants into the Air from Large Combustion Plants”, and Directive 2010/75/EC “On Industrial Emissions (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control)”. For DTEK Energy as the leader of the energy industry of Ukraine, this issue is among the priority issues of environmental protection.

In order to meet the obligations accepted by Ukraine under the Treaty Establishing Energy Community, DTEK Energy participates in working groups set up to coordinate the measures aimed at reducing the level of environmental pollution and implementing the requirements of European Directives 2001/80/EC and 2010/75/EС, including the implementation of the National Plan for Reduction of Major Pollutant Emissions from Large Combustion Plants. Implementation of the National Emission Reduction Plan will ensure compliance with the requirements of the European Directive 2010/75/EC until 2028 (for solid substances and sulphur dioxide) and until 2033 (for nitrogen oxides).

DTEK Energy makes significant efforts to mitigate the adverse environmental impact at all stages of its production processes. Regular environmental upgrading of capacities ensures production reliability and achievement of requirements of the European environmental standards.

Along with the upgrading and reconstruction of TPP power units, DTEK Energy carries out reconstruction of electrostatic precipitators in order to achieve the residual dust content in exhaust gases not exceeding 50 mg/m3.

Besides, all power plants have video surveillance systems installed to provide boiler unit operators with additional prompt information on the boiler combustion modes.

In order to maintain target KPIs of gas treatment equipment, in 2018–2020, major, minor, and mid-life repair works were performed at all thermal power plants of DTEK Energy.

Gross Emissions of Major Pollutants, thous. t:


Aggregate Gross Emissions, thous. t:

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Coal mining enterprises take measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, Stepova Mine of DTEK Pavlohradcoal together with REGEN has finished implementing the project of coalmine methane disposal through high-temperature oxidation on the basis of the 1.6 MW Caterpillar co-generation unit. The unit was commissioned in September 2020, and in Q4 2020, 234 t of methane were disposed of. This allowed reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 5.9 thous. t of CO2 equivalent.

Gross Greenhouse Gas Emissions, mln t:

Protection and sustainable use of water resources

The general principle of water resources management in the Company is their economical and sustainable use. In order to ensure optimal water consumption for production needs, generating enterprises use circulating cooling systems for the main and auxiliary equipment, circulating hydraulic ash removal systems, and water recycling systems. Efficient water consumption at the production enterprises is ensured by the reuse of mine water for production needs and by recycling water supply at coal preparation plants.

In order to meet the requirements of the Environmental Policy for reducing the volume and improving the quality indicators of wastewater discharge, DTEK enterprises continuously monitor the quality of wastewater, implement projects to upgrade treatment facilities, reuse wastewater in process cycles, and clean water cooling reservoirs from bottom sediments.

Waste management

In the course of work of DTEK Energy enterprises, the major scope of their waste (99.9%) accrues to bulk waste, i.e. rocks and ash sludge, which are class 4 non-hazardous waste. An increase in the volume of their utilization is one of the Company's key tasks.

In order to increase the utilization of ash sludge waste and rock at DTEK Energy enterprises, programs for increasing the utilization of waste are being implemented.

In 2020, the project for collecting dry ash at Power Unit No. 10 of DTEK Prydniprovska TPP was implemented.

For the purpose of accumulating dry ash, improving its technical characteristics, and for subsequent use of the material in a number of infrastructure and construction projects, the silo hopper for dry ask underwent retrofitting and upgrading at DTEK Burshtynska TPP.

In order to increase the use of waste and to prevent the allotment of new lands for their disposal, heat generation enterprises build up ash pond dams using ash waste instead of the natural material (sand, crushed stone).

Thanks to these measures the total ash sludge waste disposal volume in 2020 accounted for 34% of the total waste generated in the same year.

Total Volume of Disposed Waste, mln t

Road construction is one of the prospective areas of using ash sludge waste of DTEK Energy TPPs.
For this purpose, expert opinions on the possibility of the use of ash sludge waste of DTEK Energy TPPs in road construction were developed. Those opinions were approved by the specialized State R&D Institute Named after Shulgin.

In 2019, a Memorandum of Cooperation was concluded with R&D Institute Named after Shulgin to support works on the construction of a pilot road section in Ivano-Frankivsk Region using ash sludge materials.

The project was finished in 2021; a unique road section 900 m long was built using ash sludge materials.
Project implementation will allow replication of the use of ash sludge materials in construction, reconstruction, and major repairs of state and local roads.

DTEK Energy transforms and strives to achieve higher efficiency and to implement innovative solutions in its work. The project of road construction using ash sludge proves the Company's approach as a responsible leader.

Soil reclamation

Significant coal deposits rest in the flood plain of Samara River and its feeders. Coal excavation in these conditions implies sedimentation of the ground surface, flooding and bogging of soils. In this light, the sustainable use and protection of land resources become topical.

Key measures taken to counter the adverse impact of mining operations in the flood plain of Samara River are the following:

• Dumping of subsided sections of the earth surface with mine rock and their subsequent covering with a fertile layer. Application of this method excluded rock dumps at most mines of DTEK Pavlohradcoal and in its branch, DTEK Pavlohradska CPP; in 2020, the technical reclamation stage with the application of a conditionally fertile layer in the territory of 12 ha was finished along with the biological reclamation of the 72 ha's site, thanks to which it was transferred to the communal ownership of the territorial community in Ternivka.
• Protection of forest areas and agricultural lands against floods with drainage systems.

Along with the reclamation of lands, DTEK Energy enterprises also carry out compensatory planting of forests. In particular, in 2020, Pavlogradska, Ternivska, Blagodatna, and Samarska mines planted 12 ha of forest.