Initial Environmental Examination July 2021 Sri Lanka: Power System Reliability Strengthening Project Annex 7: Environmental Audit for Existing Substations Prepared by Ceylon Electricity Board and Lanka Electricity Company (Private) Limited for the Asian Development Bank. This initial environmental examination is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ADB's Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature. Your attention is directed to the “terms of use” section on ADB’s website. In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. Environmental Audit for Existing Substations Document stage: Final Project Number: TA-9460 SRI July 2021 Power System Reliability Strengthening Project (PSRSP-TA 9460 SRI) Prepared by Resource Management Associates (Pvt) Ltd. for Asian Development Bank I. INTRODUCTION A. Background 1. The scope of the Power System Reliability Strengthening Project (PSRSP) includes two 220 kV bay extensions in one existing grid substation (GSS), two 132 kV bay extensions in three existing GSS, a new control building in the existing Matara GSS, and modification of protection systems in eleven GSS/substations (SS). These components have to comply with ADB’s Safeguards Policy Statement (2009) requirements and Sri Lankan environmental, health and safety regulations. As per ADB’s Safeguards Policy Statement (2009), projects involving facilities and/or business activities that already exist or are under construction, will undertake an environment audit, including on-site assessment, to identify past or present concerns related to impacts on the environment. The objective of the environment audit is to determine whether actions were in accordance with ADB’s environment safeguard principles and requirements and to identify and plan appropriate measures to address outstanding compliance issues. Where noncompliance is identified, a corrective action plan (CAP) is prepared. The CAP will define necessary corrective actions, the budget for such actions, and the time frame for implementation. Since the project involves augmentation of existing substations an environment compliance audit has been undertaken to support the IEE. Expansion of existing facilities does not categorize as prescribed projects that require environmental clearance under the National Environmental Act (NEA) No 47 of 1980 as amended by Act No 56 of 1988 and Act No 53 of 2000. B. Proposed Expansion Works 2. Line bays are required to connect transmission lines to GSS. One circuit of a transmission line is connected to a line bay and, therefore, two bays are required to connect a double circuit transmission line to a GSS. Table 1 summarizes the requirement of bay extensions under the project. Table 1: Requirement of Bay Extensions Grid Number of Relevant Transmission Line Constructed Voltage Substation Bays under Project New New Anuradhapura GSS - New Habarana SS 2 220 kV Anuradhapura 220 kV double circuit transmission line Hambantota GSS - Matara GSS 132 kV double Hambantota 2 132 kV circuit transmission line Kukule Ganga PS - Kalawana GSS 132 kV Kukule Ganga 2 132 kV double circuit transmission line Hambantota GSS - Matara GSS 132 kV double Matara 2 132 kV circuit transmission line 3. Circuits of transmission lines are electrically protected from both terminals, using switchgear which is controlled by protection relays. Switchgear and relays are located within GSS. For a given circuit of a transmission line, protection relays at both terminals should be operated in harmony to avoid any maloperations. Five Line-in Line-out (LILO) connections will be constructed under the project. Construction of LILO connections alters the terminal points of circuits of existing transmission lines which feed the LILO connection. Protection relays at 2 existing terminals must be modified to match with protection relays at the new terminals. Thus, new protection panels will be installed at eleven GSS/SS under the project. C. Purpose of the Environmental Audit 4. Purpose of the environmental audit is: (i) to identify any past and present inadequacies in environmental, occupational and community health and safety management at the existing substations to be augmented; (ii) to determine the need for corrective actions necessary to bring the existing facilities into compliance with Sri Lankan environmental, health and safety regulations;1 (iii) to determine the need for corrective actions necessary to bring the existing facilities into compliance with ADB’s Safeguards Policy Statement (2009) and IFC EHS Guidelines which the ADB’s Safeguards Policy Statement (2009) refers; and (iv) to recommend actions to be taken to improve and strengthen CEB’s environmental, health, and safety management. D. Scope of Work 5. The environmental audit was focused on the 15 GSS/SS where there will be bay extensions, a new control building and new protection panels installed as detailed above. These 15 GSS/SS (Table 2) are New Anuradhapura GSS, Hambantota GSS, Kukule Ganga PS, Matara GSS for proposed bay extensions and a new control building at Matara GSS; New Chilaw GSS, New Habarana SS, Veyangoda GSS, Ambalangoda GSS, Bolawatta GSS, Galle GSS, Horana GSS, Katunayake GSS, Kelaniya GSS, Kotugoda GSS and Padukka Switching Station for the modification of protection systems (installation of new protection panels). They are located in nine districts and five Provinces in the country (Figure 1 and Figure 2). 1 There are a number of legislative and regulatory instruments in Sri Lanka that address environmental, health and safety management in both general and specific terms. Among these are the 1978 Constitution of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and a number of acts and regulations further details of which are included in Section 2 of the IEE. 3 Table 2: Name of GSS/SS, Coordinates, District, and the Provinces Name Coordinates District Province 1 New Anuradhapura GSS 8.296870, 80.451806 Anuradhapura North Central 2 Hambantota GSS 6.18516, 81.12766 Hambantota Southern 3 Kukule Ganga PS 6.603658, 80.284385 Kalutara Western 4 Matara GSS 5.964836, 80.534977 Matara Southern 5 New Chilaw SS 7.48667, 79.90913 Kurunegala North -western 6 New Habarana SS 8.049847, 80.726377 Anuradhapura North - Central 7 Veyangoda GSS 7.17618, 80.04331 Gampaha Western 8 Ambalangoda GSS 6.282500, 80.074116 Galle Southern 9 Bolawatta GSS 7.29427, 79.86690 Puttalam North -western 10 Galle GSS 6.04615, 80.24608 Galle Southern 11 Horana GSS 6.72948, 80.14074 Kalutara Western 12 Katunayake GSS 7.17590, 79.89420 Gampaha Western 13 Kelaniya GSS 6.969288, 79.916987 Gampaha Western 14 Kotugoda GSS 7.13284, 79.92459 Gampaha Western 15 Padukka SS 6.88071, 80.04816 Colombo Western 4 Figure 1: Existing Substations in Five Provinces 5 Figure 2: Existing Substations in Nine Districts with Proposed Bay Extensions and New Protection Panels 6. Some of the existing substations are fully operational, some are under construction, some have construction works ongoing within the substation compound that are unrelated to the project, while others have associated facilities of the project under construction (Table 3). 6 Table 3: Status of Substations Name Status Fully Non- Project Related Under Construction Operational Construction Ongoing New X (08.12 2018 but now Anuradhapura X complete) GSS Hambantota X (21.11.2019 due for GSS completion September 2021) funded by ADB Green Power X Development and Energy Efficiency Improvement Investment Project (T2) Kukule Ganga X PS Matara GSS X New Chilaw X SS New Habarana X SS (as of Jan 2020) due for completion September 2021, includes construction of bay and terminal tower to which project transmission line can connect, substation is funded by JICA Veyangoda X (04.11. 2019) GSS X Not yet completed as of June 2021 Ambalangoda X GSS Bolawatta X GSS Galle GSS X Horana GSS X (04.12. 2019) Due for completion December 2021 funded by X ADB Green Power Development and Energy Efficiency Improvement Investment Project (T2) Katunayake X GSS Kelaniya GSS X Kotugoda GSS X (04.11. 2019) 132 kV augmentation work and civil work ongoing as of July 2021 funded by ADB X Green Power Development and Energy Efficiency Improvement Investment Project (T2) Padukka SS X (as of Dec 2019) funded by ADB Clean Energy and Network Efficiency 7 Name Status Fully Non- Project Related Under Construction Operational Construction Ongoing Improvement Project, commissioned in May 2020 E. Methodology 7. Per ADB’s Safeguard Policy Statement (2009) the environment audit is to be undertaken by an external environment expert. Thus all 15 GSS/SS were visited by the environment safeguard specialist from Resource Management Associates (Pvt) Ltd. during December 2018 to January 2020. The environmental audit was based on site visits by the external environment expert. During the site visit, visual inspections were conducted, and critical issues were identified as per following criteria. • General environmental management • Waste management practices • Hazardous material management • Groundwater and soil contamination control • Health and safety management, and • Noise management 8. These criteria were translated into a checklist (Annex 1) which was used by the external environment expert to identify implementation of good practice related to the subject or issues that need corrective actions to meet ADB’s environment safeguard principles and requirements. II. AUDIT FINDINGS 9. No asbestos was observed during the audit, but CEB has been using asbestos cement roofing sheets for substation construction and so it is likely that some form of asbestos could be present in these substations. This risk was identified in consultation with CEB and as the external environment expert who carried out the environmental audit was not a competent person with respect to asbestos surveying its presence at the substations cannot be ruled out.