Air quality
The generation of electricity at Eskom’s coal- and gas- (liquid fuel)
fired power stations results, inter alia, in the release of combustion
gases and particulate matter, which can affect local and regional
air quality. The legislation governing air quality and atmospheric
emissions is the National Environmental Management: Air
Quality Act (39 of 2004) and the implementation plans detailed
in the 2007 National Framework for Air Quality Management
(11 September 2007).
Our approach to air quality considers the emission of particulates,
sulphur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), heavy metals,
fugitive emissions, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and
greenhouse gases.
In the past, our focus was on reducing our particulate emissions
significantly, with continual improvement over two decades. The
current focus is on gaseous emissions. The bigger issues relate
to climate change and ambient air quality and we recognise the
need to control the emissions to the atmosphere emanating
from our power stations. To this end, we take a pro-active stance
in discussions of possible environmental impacts with DEAT,
and comply with requirements as included in environmental
authorisations issued by DEAT as an outcome of the EIAs for our
future power stations.
Air quality research
We have been undertaking investigative ambient air quality
monitoring and research on a regional scale since the late
1970s, using state-of-the-art equipment. The data is analysed
and interpreted to assess air quality in terms of guidelines
and standards, evaluate significant trends and determine the
relative contributions of the various source groups to air
quality degradation. Other applications include determining
background concentrations for EIA purposes, performance
testing of predictive air quality models, predicting long-term
air quality trends for strategic planning purposes and defining
research direction.
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Click here for more details on air quality research. |
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