• Complete energy minimisation audits at PPC permitted sites within our Energy Wholesale business
• Implement new waste contract arrangements (SWmps) in our EnergyNetworks business

Resource Use

During 2007 we carried out several major capital projects in Energy Wholesale, EnergyNetworks and ScottishPower Renewable Energy that used significant quantities of materials, including steel.

These projects included the development of new onshore windfarms and environmental investments at our power stations, including Flue Gas Desulphurisation at Longannet and a project to replace more than 20 tonnes of reinforced glass panelling at Cockenzie.

EnergyNetworks are conducting a series of network reinforcements to enable electricity from new renewable energy projects to be transported to where it is needed. The construction of new power lines and substations involves using large quantities of metal, including steel and copper. The business has also carried out significant refurbishment of the distribution network to improve the security of supply in rural areas.

Serving 5.23 million customers, Energy Retail uses a significant volume of paper in customer billing and communication. In recent years, the amount of paper used has reduced due to streamlining the bill, and the increase in the number of customers who manage their accounts online - now around 12%.

Reduce

• Cockenzie Power Station has reduced the amount of carbon in ash (the amount of unburnt carbon lost from the combustion process) from 15% to 7% as a result of an overhaul of most of the station’s pulverizing mills, airflow optimisation and development of an automatic control strategy. The improvements have reduced the use of fuel and works energy, and the volume of ash disposed of to settling lagoons
• A Business Transformation project implemented by Energy Retail’s Customer Establishment has looked at ways of reducing paper consumption, including e-mail communication with customers, and setting targets for waste minimisation
• ScottishPower Renewable Energy’s new Black Law extranet allows Habitat Management Groups and external stakeholders to access a wide range of documentation and reports on habitat management objectives and surveys at Black Law and other windfarms online. The extranet is one way we are disseminating information in an environmentally sensitive manner by reducing paper usage
• Since March 2007, coal deliveries to Longannet have been completed almost exclusively by freight train. Up to 10 coal train loads are delivered to the station per day from Hunterston, with approximately 1,000 tonnes arriving with each delivery – that’s the equivalent of taking more than 30 fully-laden lorries off Scotland’s roads per delivery
• A project team involved in reinstating the seawall at Longannet’s Valleyfield Lagoon No.5 sourced 15,000 tonnes of Grade 1 Armour stone from a local quarry at Inverkeithing, considerably reducing the carbon miles involved in transporting 800 lorry loads of aggregate
• EnergyNetworks pioneered a new, safe method of sampling transformer oil, which enables oil to be tested to assess its condition. Previously, transformer oil would have been replaced according to the length of time it had been inside the transformer, regardless of its condition. The new testing process will result in transformer oil being replaced only if there is a need to, thus reducing the amount of oil used
• EnergyNetworks is significantly reducing the environmental impact of its cable laying processes through the use of ploughing methodologies that allow cable to be inserted underground with little or no excavation. The ‘mole plough’ system is quicker to operate, causes minimal disruption and does not produce spoil that has to be disposed of to landfill

Reuse

• ScotAsh, the company’s joint venture with Lafarge Cement, reuses the ash output from Longannet and Cockenzie power stations in environmentally friendly construction products, including grouts and cements. During the year ash reuse increased by around 45% and ScotAsh achieved record product sales of 1.1 million tonnes. The company supplied several high profile projects during 2007 including cement for the turbine bases at Whitelee Windfarm, the new Upper Forth Crossing, the shaft isolation project at the Atomic Energy Authority’s Dounreay plant in Caithness and Scottish and Southern Energy’s Glendoe hydro project. ScotAsh was named as National Example of Excellence in Business in the Community’s TCS Marketplace Innovation Award 2007
• A rainwater harvesting project implemented at Rye House Power Station during 2007 should result in a 25% reduction in townswater usage. Previously, all run-off rainwater from buildings and roads was collected in an underground retention reservoir before being discharged into the River Lea. The £100,000 project is now recovering this relatively clean water and treating it by means of a gravel/sand filter plant. The filtered water is then reused for plant processes instead of using townswater from the mains supply. The project was recognised in the Environment Agency’s annual report as an example of best practice
• While awaiting the completion of a new, purpose-built biomass plant at Longannet, we continued to co-fire Waste Derived Fuel from SMW Limited’s sludge drying facility near Glasgow, recovering useful energy. We also co-fire biomass fuels, including sawdust and peanut husks at Longannet and Cockenzie power stations
• Longannet’s Stores Team took delivery of a quantity of plastic pallets. These heavy-duty plastic pallets have a lifespan of around 10 to 15 years which will reduce the station’s consumption of standard wooden pallets

Recycling

• A project team from EnergyNetworks identified recycling opportunities during the refurbishment of the Capenhurst ‘A’ 132 kV sub station. Demolition rubble was crushed on site to be used as a structural backfill layer for new foundations, also reducing transport and landfill costs, and the need to import new aggregates. Meanwhile, redundant cables were recycled and timber packaging was reused to store strategic spares at a nearby sub station
• In September 2007, Longannet conducted trials involving the recycling of marine debris that is gathered by the cooling water drum screen trash basket. As an alternative to disposal via landfill, this waste was collected by CEG of Auchterarder, to be composted for eventual use as a growing medium in gardens
• ScotAsh, our joint venture with Lafarge Cement, supplied products made from power station ash to a sustainable roads project led by City of Edinburgh Council. ScotAsh’s RSA/PT product is milled with road planings to stabilise it and enable it to be reused in road reconstruction instead of landfilled. The company also supplied its bedding mortar and joint filling grout to several local authorities. This enables setted roadways to be repaired using the original stone setts

UK general waste data*