Consultancy Services for Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) of 882.20 kWp Industrial Rooftop Solar Project of Mega Yarn Dyeing Mills Ltd. (MYDML)

The project is located at Sreepur, Gazipur, Dhaka, Bangladesh, will be implemented on the rooftop of their individual plants are steel/RCC structured, and rooftop are RCC & Corrugated based sheds and total available space 90,571 square feet. All plant capacity of a roof-top solar project mainly depends on available space and load while other factors to be taken into consideration being shading effect, orientation of the building, tilt angle of the building, load bearing capacity and backup generator capacity.

Mega Yarn Dyeing Mills Ltd. (MYDML) proposed an 882.20 kWp rooftop solar project on their rooftops of Mega Yarn Dyeing Mills Ltd, Masihata Sweaters Ltd and Suhcheon (BD) Company Ltd. Their GPS coordinates are given below:

In the proposed system two main equipment will be used which are solar panels and inverters. Sun shines on the solar panels to generate DC electricity. The DC electricity produced from the solar panel will be converted to 440V 3-phase AC using the inverters. Then, the energy will be fed into the bus bars of industry. A Zero Export Controller will be used to ensure “net zero export”. The aggregated installed capacity of the project will be 882.20 kWp.

Scope of Services included –

§  Collection of necessary information and relevant data for the preparation of Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) Reports for 882.20kWp industrial rooftop Solar plant project.

§  Collection of primary data, including extrapolation environmental features on proposed project design, tree inventories, location and measurement of socio-cultural features adjoining the proposed project area.

§  Collection of the secondary data on macro-environmental setting, such as, climate (temperature, rainfall, humidity, & wind speed), physiography, geology etc. from secondary sources.

§  Review of the environmental legislation, regulatory policy & guidelines, and considerations relating to the implementation of the project.

§  Review of the policy, legal and administrative framework for ESIA process.

§  Carry out the environmental and social impact assessment up to 1km area on each side of the project.

§  Establish the environmental and social baseline conditions of the project.

§  Assessment of the baseline environmental and social condition through field surveys and investigation (sampling & testing).

§  Impacts assessment of ecologically sensitive areas (e.g., wildlife sanctuaries, biosphere reserve, and protected places).

§  Environmental quality assessment of terrestrial and aquatic ecology, soil quality (parameters – oil & grease, arsenic), surface water quality (parameters – pH, TDS, DO, BOD, COD), groundwater quality (parameters – pH, Arsenic, TDS, Alkalinity, Fe, Chloride), air quality (parameters – SOx, NOx, CO, PM₁₀, PM_2.5), and noise level to prepare a baseline database.

§  Assess the existing physical environment, biological environment, and socio-economic environment.

§  Physical environment covered different physical natural features and included major parameters & factors, such as, climate (temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed, sunshine, & cloud coverage), ambient air quality, noise level, physiography, topography, geology & hydrology, water resources (surface & ground water), soil quality, Agro-ecological zones (soil condition, & floodplain), seismicity, etc.

§  Biological environment covered factors related to life and included major features, such as, bio-ecological zones (major rivers), ecosystem, flora & fauna, protected areas & red book species, etc.

§  Socio-economic environment covered anthropological factors, such as, demography, age, sex/gender, household, nutrition, religion, ethnicity, land use ownership, cropping pattern, occupational pattern, livelihood, income, infrastructure, settlement plan & housing, transport & communication, sources of drinking water, sanitation facility, poverty, health, recreational activities, archaeological & cultural heritage, climate change & natural disaster, environmental & social hotspot, etc.

§  Prepare socio-economic profile and impact on the community.

§  Identification and assessment of potential impacts on the natural and human environment in the project area during pre-construction; construction and post-construction phase of the project.

§  Identification of mitigation measures for minimizing the effect of the negative impacts and enhancement measures for increasing the benefits of the positive impacts.

§  Organize public consultation to explain the local environmental & social conditions and pertinent impacts.

§  Public consultation was conducted to understand the people’s perception, view and suggestion on the project.

§  Assessment of environmental, economic, and social benefits that will contribute towards long-term global sustainability.

§  Preparation of the recommendations and conclusions in order to operate the project works in an environmentally safe and sound manner.

§  Preparation of the ESIA Report, in compliance with the guidelines of the Department of Environment (DOE) and World Bank ESS (Environmental and Social Standard) guidelines.

§  Preparation of the ESIA Report, including Social Impact Assessment (SIA), Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and Environmental Monitoring Plan, along with the budgetary cost estimates for the proposed mitigation measures and monitoring plan, in compliance with the DOE guidelines and World Bank ESS (Environmental and Social Standard).