Enel Generacion Chile : ENVIRONMENTAL SUPERINTENDENT AND ENEL GENERACIÓN CHILE LAUNCH MODERN SYSTEM FOR THE CONTINUOUS MONITORING OF EMISSIONS

Important progress towards continuous monitoring began to be implemented by the Environmental Superintendent with the startup of the pilot project, enabling the authority to count information on the air emissions generated by the thermoelectric power plants in real time. This initiative began in the Enel Generación Chile Bocamina thermoelectric power plant, a company that voluntarily assumed the challenge of being the first power generating company in the country to implement this system.

The Enel Chile CEO, Nicola Cotugno, emphasized progress in the energy market with respect to electric power generation and new forms of control. 'We are experiencing an important change in the form of producing energy, with a tendency which is increasingly cleaner and renewable, but also by means of the implementation of new technologies such as this one, which allows us to use the conventional generation array. We are sure that this model for direct and permanent information with respect to our emissions shall soon be the guideline to govern all the companies in the trade', he indicated.

Thanks to the new system, the environmental authority shall count with the raw data - unprocessed - of the emissions of the thermoelectric power plants, minute by minute. This takes place by means of the direct and permanent transmission of the data being registered by the equipment, CEMS (Continuous Emissions Monitoring System) in the thermoelectric power plants, and which are received by the Air Emissions Pollution Monitoring System (SIVECAT, due to its Spanish acronym) of the Environmental Superintendent. This is how progress takes place towards greater transparency and to the flawless surveillance of environmental pollution with the operation of the Bocamina plant.

This deals with a voluntary initiative and goes one step beyond that required by law. Currently, and in agreement with that established by the regulations in force concerning thermal power plants, all of the information registered by the CEMS is reported to the SMA on a quarterly basis.

Shared area

In addition to the emissions online data transmission project, the SMA and Enel Generación Chile implemented a virtual shared area project, which houses all of the backup information delivered by the quality assurance process of the Bocamina CEMS.

For this purpose, SMA users have access via VPN to the virtual folders where the information is housed. In this way, it is sought to make the backup information available to the Superintendent, in a timely and transparent manner, for the CEMS reliability and information concerning compliance with the technical and regulatory requirements that this equipment must comply with.

Bocamina

Enel Generación Chile has a comprehensive environmental monitoring network for Coronel, which includes supervising 87 parameters in more than 90 points in the county, that includes air pollution, air quality, marine environment of the Bay, outlets and noise. Regarding this last point, equipment noise insulation systems have been implemented in order to reduce noise during operation, with important progress along this line. Additionally, the company maintains online environmental information in its web site on the Bocamina power plant emissions, as well as online information on the air quality in the area.