Environmental sustainability is in Acciona’s DNA, especially in its rail infrastructure business, Coleman Rail.
From project goals – like shifting more freight from road to rail transport – to the guiding principles of its global Sustainability Master Plan 2025 and a host of on-site practices, sustainability and promoting the circular economy are at the forefront of Acciona’s planning and execution of projects.
Global leader in sustainability solutions, Acciona delivers renewable energy projects using multiple technologies: wind, solar PV, solar thermal, hydro and biomass. After completing projects generating 10,400 megawatts of power in 16 countries including Australia, the company has led the global rankings of Energy Intelligence’s Top 100 Green Utilities for the fifth year in a row.
Acciona believes the future of sustainability is regeneration: replenishing and restoring what we have lost and building economies and communities that thrive while allowing the planet to prosper.
The heritage and principles of Acciona have filtered down to its subsidiaries, which is evident in many of its rail projects.
Recently, when it approached the installation of 88 kilometres of new 47 kilogram per metre rail, it chose to deliver the rail in 165m strings from Port Augusta to the Ararat-Maryborough corridor by train, using less than a quarter of the diesel needed by a fleet of trucks, and cutting greenhouse emissions by a similar magnitude.
Acciona estimates that rail delivery has cut carbon dioxide emissions by 679 tonnes, compared to the emissions generated by truck delivery.
And because six 27.5m rail lengths were welded off-site to form each 165m string, less welding is needed in the rail corridor, resulting in a lighter footprint in an area with sensitive native vegetation.
At another project site where new rail was not needed, redundant rail from another project in Melbourne has been re-used for the new siding road being installed.
The re-used rail is being laid on sleepers made from plastic waste in Mildura, demonstrating another sustainability initiative. The 530 plastic sleepers have diverted some 18t of plastic waste from landfill.
Even modest sustainability initiatives can add up to resource and emissions savings.
Projects are trialling hi-vis vests made from recycled material. And they are not thrown away at the end of the project or because they become worn or damaged.
Upparel collects old PPE and uniforms and converts them into sellable products. Upparel has reported that in the March 2022 quarter, it has saved 98kg in greenhouse emissions.
Similarly, any branded hoarding made redundant by a project’s completion will be donated and converted into products like bags and pencil cases, which will then be donated to schools in the project’s catchment area.
Some re-use initiatives have come about after employees spotted a use for scrap materials from projects. When thousands of rotting timber sleepers were being replaced on a line, the project had them tested, and, on being certified safe for human contact, some were mulched for landscaping.
Then there’s the scrap fasteners and plates, known in the rail industry as ‘jewellery’. A visit to a local Men’s Shed revealed that the shed members could rework a couple of barrels of donated jewellery in the shed’s metal workshop into windmills and firepits. This initiative helped the shed to raise $1200.
Acciona also promotes the circular economy by carefully selecting contractors with sustainability values to supply products, like backpacks made from recycled material.
Employees are given reusable drink bottles and coffee cups to cut the use of single-use plastics. The company has used solar panels on site sheds and equipment, and solar-powered compounds will soon become the norm on Coleman Rail and Acciona projects.
Coleman Rail Murray Basin project director Aimee Najdovski says her project lives up to Acciona’s sustainability principles.
“We’re always looking for new and innovative ways of doing more with less, and all our employees are on board for the sustainability journey,” she said. “Some of the initiatives our people come up with are just amazing.”
Coleman Rail Executive General Manager Sean Bonham said from an energy perspective, Acciona was one of the largest 100 per cent-renewable energy companies in the world.
“We have no fossil-fuel legacy and generate over 13GW of renewable energy in more than 20 countries,” he said.
“We operate Spain’s longest-serving wind farms, first commissioned in 1994 and 1995, and the century-old Siera hydroelectric plant. We care for this heritage alongside the absolute newest technologies.
“Now the challenge is decarbonisation. And we need to do this now, rather than wait for hydrogen or electric-powered hi-rail equipment to be developed.
“As a result, we ask all our people to think about what they can do in their role to help us reduce our carbon emissions. As Thomas Edison said, ‘There’s a way to do it better — find it.’”