OREANDA-NEWS. On 21 April 2009 was announced, that a periodical assessment audit of the Ecological Management System (EMS) at the Volzhskaya Hydropower Plant, a JSC RusHydro branch, has been completed. The test of the plant was conducted by the British Institute of Standards (BSI), an international certification organization.

The audit of the Volzhskaya Hydropower Plant took place on 25 and 26 February, its aim being to confirm that the Ecological Management System met both the ISO 14001 international standard and standards established independently by the plant as obligatory. Areas in which the EMS did not meet the aforementioned standards were not discovered.

"The test demonstrated that our plant's Ecological Management System is being improved virtually every day. It showed how we are continually improving by achieving our environmental goals and overcoming our problems in that field," said Andrei Klimenko, the director of RusHydro's Volzhskaya Hydropower Plant, in commenting on the results of the assessment audit.

The Ecological Management System at RusHydro's Volzhskaya Hydropower Plant was certified as meeting the ISO 14001:2004 international standard in October 2008. Based on the results of the audit conducted by the British Institute of Standards, an international certification organization, a registration certificate was issued with regard to the production and sales of electric power. The Volzhskaya Hydropower Plant was the first station of its kind in Russia to receive such a certificate.

The project to introduce Ecological Management System at RusHydro was begun in 2007, and will be implemented at all of the company's hydropower plants. It is part of RusHydro's environmental policy, which is based on the principles of energy efficiency, and the rational use of natural and energy resources, while reducing any possible negative impact on the environment.