EPA fines AGL for two NO_x exceedences

Monday, 06 January, 2014

AGL has been fined $1500 and issued with an official caution for exceeding oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) concentration limits on two occasions in 2013.

AGL self-reported the two incidents to the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).

“AGL holds an Environment Protection Licence (EPL) issued by the EPA for the Rosalind Park Gas Plant which forms part of the Camden Gas Scheme,” said the EPA’s Chief Environmental Regulator Mark Gifford.

“AGL is required to continuously monitor emissions from its three gas compression engines. They are also required to publish emission data on a regular basis. Emissions at the Camden site are monitored by three on-site continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) units and routine independent stack testing.”

The EPA received two incident reports from AGL for breaches of NO_x concentration limits in August and September 2013.

“The first exceedence occurred on 4 August and the second on 13 August. AGL has told the EPA that they were only made aware of the 13 August exceedence on September 6 when they received their monthly report of the CEMS from the company that undertakes the monitoring,” Gifford said.

“The EPA has investigated the incidents and has determined that AGL failed to maintain its equipment in a proper and efficient condition as required under the EPL.

“As soon as AGL became aware of the incidents, it reported them immediately to the EPA, investigated the causes of the incidents and took action including the shutdown of equipment.

“AGL has also adopted corrective actions aimed at preventing a recurrence including more frequent verification of monitoring systems used for compliance purposes and the automatic shutdown of a gas compression engine if it goes into fault.

“Whilst the exceedences were small and of short duration, and did not cause a significant impact on the environment, the EPA takes all non-compliances seriously.”

All details of the AGL licence and non-compliances are published on the EPA public register: www.epa.nsw.gov.au/prpoeo.