As a power grid company and system operator, KEGOC has no significant impact on fauna and flora.
To manage environmental risks during the design stage of power grid facilities, overhead line routes and substation sites are prohibited from passing through settlement lands and territories, including those designated for future development of villages, settlements and cities, as well as those intended for agricultural development, natural reserves, forest farms, water protection zones, irrigated farmlands, specially protected territories and cultural heritage sites. The majority of the overhead lines travel through steppe and semi-desert areas.
When any construction or reconstruction projects are being considered, public hearings or debates on the project EIA are required. The EIA considers all processes that could have a substantial environmental impact on the planned activity, such as air, water bodies, and groundwater, terrain, biodiversity conservation, and wildlife. Project risks are identified and assessed on a continual basis and at all phases of project implementation. PESTEL analysis is used to assess project hazards, including social and environmental concerns. The results of the environmental impact assessment, including biodiversity, are considered, and the alternative that causes the least environmental harm is chosen.
The beneficial influence of KEGOC on biodiversity is that it promotes the conservation of traditional habitats in power line right-of-ways and sanitary zones near substations.
According to global studies, power lines with voltages ranging from 0.4 to 10 kV are hazardous to birds due to the short distances between the earthed cross-arm or other earthed areas of the transmission tower and live conductors. Birds can cause a fatal short-circuit when they brush an earthed cross-arm and a live conductor while lifting off or flying by.
99.4% of KEGOC's overhead lines are high-voltage lines of 110 kV or above, with a minimum distance of 1.5 metres between earthed and current-carrying parts of the overhead linesNevertheless, more than 11 thousand safe bird protection devices have been installed in places where birds may land on traverses and portals of KEGOC JSC, which do not allow birds to land on elements of lines and substations, including devices installed as a result of the implementation of innovation proposals in branches, such as scrolling when trying to land birds on the edge traverses of reinforced concrete overhead line supports are devices and noise devices that activate in the wind and reduce risks to birds.
The company is always monitoring the market for advancements in the field of biodiversity protection, learning from the experiences of other enterprises, and collaborating with nature conservation agencies. So, in September 2023, he took part in the scientific and practical seminar ‘Birds of Prey and energy’, held within the framework of the International Scientific and Practical Conference ‘Eagles of the Palearctic; study and Protection’ organized by the Public Foundation ‘Center for the Study and Conservation of Biodiversity’ (BRCC Research&Conservation), Bird Conservation Unions of Kazakhstan, Hungary, Germany and other associations with the support of the Cooperation Fund for the Conservation of Ecosystems in Critical Condition (CEPF), the EU Nature LIFE Foundation, VGP FOUNDATION, in order to share experiences in addressing the issue of bird safety.
