Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (Draft) March 2018 THA: Chonburi Power Plant Project (Part 1 of 6) Prepared by Gulf SRC Company Limited for the Asian Development Bank. The environmental and social impact assessment report 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 Term of Use section of this 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 Report for submittal to ADB Chapter 1 Sriracha Power Plant Project SRC Co., Ltd. Executive Summary CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Sriracha Power Plant of Gulf SRC Co., Ltd. covers area of 450 rais (1 rai = 1,600 m2) in the Hemaraj Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate (Hemaraj ESIE) at Khao Khansong Sub-district, Si Racha District, Chon Buri Province. The power plant is estimated 140 km east of Bangkok. The proposed Sriracha Power Plant will utilize natural gas as main fuel and diesel oil as back up fuel. The total installed capacity of this power plant is 2,650 MW which will be sold to the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). Major machineries and equipment of the Uthai Power Plant will be four combustion turbine generators (CTG), four heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) and four steam turbine generators (STG). The generated electricity to be sold to EGAT will be dispatched via the 500 kV Pluak Daeng Sub-station. The natural gas for the project to be supplied by PTT (Public) Co., Ltd. is approximately 368 Mft3/day and the diesel oil supply as contingency fuel, is approximately 8,500 m3/day. Raw water will be provided by the Eastern Water Resources Development and Management PCL with rate of 63,000 m3/day and stored in the 189,000 m3 reservoir. The wastewater of the power plant is derived from 2 sources: cooling system and production processes. The effluent discharged from the cooling tower will be drained into the cooling water holding pond of the power plant before discharging into the cooling water holding pond for power plant of Hemaraj ESIE. However, properties of discharged cooling water have to meet standards such as Notification of Ministry of Industry No. 2 (B.E. 2539) re: wastewater discharge criteria for factory and standard of discharged wastewater quality to irrigation water route of Rayal Irrigation Department. Wastewater from production processes will be treated prior to discharge into the project’s wastewater holding pond for further discharge into Hemaraj ESIE central wastewater treatment system. The properties of discharged wastewater into the central wastewater treatment plant have to meet the requirements of Hemaraj Eastern Seaboard Industrial Estate. The study of alternative consideration was conducted in accordance with the Office of the Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP) Guideline. Alternative consideration is an important step in order to mitigate environmental impact RNP/ENV/RE5501/P2262/CH1_ADB 200260 Page 1-1 Environmental Report for submittal to ADB Chapter 1 Sriracha Power Plant Project SRC Co., Ltd. Executive Summary to the lowest level, increase possibility of the project design and investment. The principle criteria for alternation consideration are as follows: Mainly utilize the areas of the industrial estate to mitigate impacts on people’s land use Avoid historic areas or archaeological sites Located in the areas with energy network or natural gas pipeline Have feasible engineering for both construction and maintenance Have enough basic infrastructure to support the need of the project Cause the least impact on sensitive environmental areas such as communities, religious places, schools, governmental offices and hospitals Avoid the areas specified in the attachment of the Notification of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment as specific conservative areas which have been protected by laws. The Sriracha Power Plant Project is subjected to the requirements on the preparation and submission of the EIA report to the ONEP for review and approval (under the Notification of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment of 24 August B.E. 2535 (1992) No.2 and No.3 B.E. 2539 (1996)). Therefore, TEAM Consulting Engineering and Management Co., Ltd. was engaged to conduct the required EIA study. The EIA study for Sriracha Power Plant Project is fully complied with applicable Thai laws i.e. ONEP guidelines for EIA report for Power Plant which include environmental standards/regulations of Department of Industrial Works, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Transport and Communications, and Ministry of Labor. As the project shall create temporary and permanent employments for skilled and unskilled labors, the project will fully comply with ADB’s Social Protection Strategy (2001) which upholds international recognized labor standards and/or national labor laws, particularly on the following conventions: (1) no harmful or exploitative forms of forced labor, (2) no child labor, (3) no discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, and (4) no restrictions of freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining. In addition, the Sriracha Power Plant project will fully comply with the relevant ADB’s safeguard policy throughout the project operation period. Objectives of ADB’s environmental and social safeguards are to: (i) avoid adverse impacts of projects on the environment and affected people, where possible; (ii) minimize, mitigate, and/or compensate for adverse project impacts on the RNP/ENV/RE5501/P2262/CH1_ADB 200260 Page 1-2 Environmental Report for submittal to ADB Chapter 1 Sriracha Power Plant Project SRC Co., Ltd. Executive Summary environment and affected people when avoidance is not possible, and (iii) help borrowers/clients to strengthen their safeguard systems and develop the capacity to manage environmental and social risks. Since the project is Category A for environment, Safeguard Requirements 1: Environmental and eleven policy principles have been triggered (referred to page 16 of the SPS, 2009). The results of the study (including the summarized key environmental & social baseline data, anticipated impacts and associated mitigation measures) and recommendations in the EIA study are summarizied as follows: 1.1 AIR QUALITY The potential air quality impacts from the Sriracha Power Plant Project during the construction and operation periods will be from dust dispersion during the construction phase and stack emissions during the operation phase. During the project construction, the main activities leading to the dispersion of suspended particulate are the activities in the preparation of the ground for foundation works and the building works which need to excavate, plough, backfill, grade and compress the soil. According to the forecast of the impacts from the project construction on 21 sensitive areas, the highest 24-hr average TSP is found at the construction area with the concentration of 190.46 µg/m³. When it is added to the highest concentration measured from the field study (153 µg/m³), the result was 343.46 µg/m³. Nevertheless, the project has established environmental impact mitigation and preventive measures on air quality during the construction period by spraying water within the construction area at least twice a day, and installing shading nets around the construction area to reduce the total suspended particulate (TSP) to 95.23 µg/m³. When this is added to the highest concentration measured from the field study (153 µg/m³), the result was 248.23 µg/m³ or 73.83 % of the standard level. During the operation period, the air quality impact will be from the use of natural gas as main fuel and diesel oil as backup fuel to generate the electricity. The combustion of these fuels will generate major air pollutants including primary oxides of nitrogen (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matters (PM). However, there will be small amount of SO2 emission and PM because of the composition of selected fuel of the project. The impacts on the air quality in the atmosphere from the project operation were forecasted by using the mathematical model AERMOD. Results showed that the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and total suspended RNP/ENV/RE5501/P2262/CH1_ADB 200260 Page 1-3 Environmental Report for submittal to ADB Chapter 1 Sriracha Power Plant Project SRC Co., Ltd. Executive Summary particulate (TSP) in the atmosphere from the project operation in all six scenarios within 15 km from the project area is within the standard level (Table 1). When adding this to the existing measured results, the concentration of various pollutants in all of the 21 sensitive areas are within the stipulated standard level. This shows the potential of the studied areas to accommodate the Sriracha Power Plant Development Project in the future. Therefore, it is expected that the project operation will have moderate impacts on the air quality. The project can further reduce the impacts on air quality by implementing the environmental impact monitoring measures to minimize impacts on air quality. TABLE 1 FORCASED AIR QUALITY