NB Power Distribution and Customer Service (Disco)

Overview

Disco delivers safe, reliable and competitively priced energy to its customers via 20,000 km of distribution lines located throughout the province. Environmental efforts are focused on minimizing impacts related to the construction, operation and maintenance of this power distribution system.

Environmental Management System

Disco has an Environmental Management System (EMS) consistent with the ISO 14001:2004 standard, which provides a structured and systematic approach to managing environmental issues. Disco employees, contractors and other non-employees whose work may have an impact on the environment are all required to adhere to the Disco EMS.

The program focuses on continual improvement through:

• Planning;
• Operational control;
• Auditing (both internal and external);
• Corrective actions; and
• Annual management review.

The program was first developed in the fall of 2002 and became operational in 2003.

In 2004, efforts were directed at:

• Day-to-day activities by reviewing field operations;
• Allowing the EMS team to provide feedback; and
• Corrective actions for issues identified at the operational level.

2005 saw the program continue to yield numerous successes as a result of increased environmental awareness among staff, resulting in the continued review of oil spill cleanup policies, more regular interaction with the NB DoE on cleanup requirements and focus on replacing deteriorating transformers before failure, thereby avoiding potential spills.

2006 saw the addition of a full-time EMS Coordinator to manage the program and address all EMS administration and documentation. Training and EMS awareness was a major focus throughout the year, culminating with an EMS awareness and information update delivered to all staff.

The 2006 EMS audit showed a significant improvement over the 2005 audit. The 2006 internal audit had no major non-conformances, only 2 minor non-conformances, and 15 opportunities for improvement. All audit findings were related to EMS administrative issues, with no findings relating to field operations or control issues. Corrective action plans were developed to address all audit findings.

Impact of EMS

As a result of having an active EMS, the following on-going projects have been identified as having a direct environmental benefit:

• Replacement of prematurely corroding transformers in coastal locations will result in fewer transformer oil leaks.
• New vehicle wash-pad and oily-water filtration system at the Marysville Service Center.
• Revised procedures for installation of poles in coastal salt-marsh locations reduce the exposure of soil and sedimentation of marshlands.
• Implemented two new environmental standard operating procedures:
  • Pole placement along a watercourse - for line designers, and
  • Disposal of treated wood.
• New operating procedures and training for all NB Power line designers to include awareness for working around watercourses in order to minimize disturbance and sedimentation issues.
• Environmental awareness training for all pole and line contractors on where to install poles and how to minimize sedimentation and damage to watercourses.
• NB Power’s new Electronic Line Designer software was updated to include the location of all provincially designated well fields and watersheds to better plan the location of poles.
• Removal of abandoned transformers from field locations to minimize potential oil spill damage to the environment.

Waste Management

Over the past five years Disco has made a noticeable improvement in spill management, decreasing both the number and volume of spills.

In 2006, there were 58 spills for a total of 1,454 litres of oil. Both of these quantities are the lowest ever reordered for Disco. Only four of these spills contained low level PCB-contaminated oil. All spills were contained and cleaned up according to the newly revised Oil Spill Cleanup and Reporting Procedure.

Water Heater Management

Disco rents hot water heaters to 85% of its residential customers. This translates to a need to dispose of 16,000 units annually. The disposal of these units is done in an environmentally approved manner. Units that are less than five years old are returned to the manufacturer for reprocessing. Units that are more than five years old are sent to a smelter to be recycled, thereby avoiding landfill.

In addition, all new installed water heater tanks comply with the latest Enercan standard for energy efficiency, reducing the percentage of standby losses.

Vegetation Management

Disco works closely with its contractors to ensure consistent adherence to standards, vehicle inspection programs, safety programs, environmental awareness training, and watercourse alteration regulations.

These efforts have resulted in consistent quality throughout the vegetation management program. The end result has been fewer hydraulic fluid spills, higher quality tree pruning, and improved reliability.

Communication programs are important to the success of Disco’s vegetation management program. Initiatives include:

• The "right tree, right place" education program, which provides guidance to homeowners regarding the types of trees and shrubs that can be planted near power lines;
• Improved communications with customers and community leaders regarding proposed vegetation programs in their communities; and
• Increasing vegetation management program information on the website.

Herbicides are not used to control vegetation along the distribution line rights-of-way. Herbicides are used to control weeds inside the yards of substations, terminals and remote radio sites. Trained staff from Transco performs this work for Disco with the appropriate pesticide application permits.

Green Energy

NB Power is committed to environmental stewardship and has recently taken additional steps to ensure a clean supply of energy to customers through the development of various renewable energy initiatives.

Renewable energy generally refers to energy derived from natural sources that can be continuously replenished, such as biogas, biomass, solar, hydro, tidal or wind. Generating electricity from renewable sources produces little to no greenhouse gases, making it an environmentally friendly fuel option.

Approximately 26% of NB Power’s capacity is produced by renewable energy, primarily through hydro generation. NB Power operates six hydro facilities, including Beechwood, Grand Falls, Mactaquac, Milltown, Sisson and Tobique. In addition to existing renewable facilities, NB Power’s commitment to increasing the renewable energy mix is expressed by initiatives such as the provincial government’s Renewable Portfolio Standard and Disco’s Net Metering Program.

Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)

The Renewable Portfolio Standard is a provincial standard, which requires that 10% of New Brunswickers’ electricity must come from Eco Logo™ certified renewable sources by 2016. Eco Logo™ standards include generation from small wind, solar, biomass, small hydro or biogas. New Brunswick was the first province in Canada to adopt an RPS, which is incorporated in the New Brunswick Electricity Act.

NB Power is working on several initiatives that will help meet these targets:

• NB Power has committed to purchasing up to 400 MW of wind energy. It recently announced a 20-year power purchase agreement for up to 96 MW.
• NB Power contributed to an International Electric Power Research Institute study on tidal power. The study identified 90 MW of tidal power resources in New Brunswick.
• NB Power will continue to explore other renewable energy sources such as biomass, small hydro, tidal power and electricity generated from landfill gas.

Net Metering Program

NB Power has also introduced a net metering program, which enables customers to produce their own environmentally friendly electricity by connecting a small Eco Logo™ certified generation unit (less than 100 kW) to NB Power’s distribution system.

NB Power’s other green initiatives include the followings:

Hybrid Vehicles

Disco has been evaluating more fuel-efficient vehicles and recently added hybrids to their vehicle fleet.

Energy Advisors

Disco has energy advisors located around the province, conducting home evaluations through the Home Energy Check program. Energy advisors provide expert information to customers on how to use energy as efficiently as possible. They are trained to discuss heating options, heating system sizes and provide advice to assist in minimizing energy consumption.

Lumalux Plus®Eco® Lights

In 2005, Disco launched a pilot relamping program to refit street lights with the Lumalux Plus®Eco® energy-efficient high pressure sodium (HPS) lights. The new lamp has an average extended lamp life of 30,000 hours, representing a 25% increase over the standard high pressure sodium lamp life. In addition, the new lamps contain up to 90% less mercury than standard HPS lamps, and they are lead free.

In the Community

Disco employees marked Arbor Day by participating in school events and making presentations on planting trees away from power lines. These fun events allow employees to share their vegetation management expertise with children by answering a variety of environmental questions.