Hard-headedness...

...is an advantage in business. But you also need intelligence and imagination to come up with innovative and sustainable solutions that ensure a successful balance of economic, environmental and social interests.

Repower takes its social responsibility seriously

The idea of sustainable business is to strike a harmonious balance between economic, environmental and social interests. The many different facets of sustainability are reflected in the many ways in which Repower strives to achieve this balance. The company takes sustainability, and its responsibility to the environment, employees and society, very seriously indeed.

Environmental and workplace safety

Repower sees its responsibility to its people and the environment as an integral component of the way the company is managed. To this end it conducts regular internal controls, and also has its activities reviewed by external auditors. It endeavours to follow and anticipate new legal requirements, and assesses the need for action accordingly. The safety of staff, customers and people visiting Repower's sites has top priority. The company offers employees specific ongoing training on environmental and safety issues, and makes sure they are equipped with appropriate clothing and equipment to do their job.

In Switzerland Repower has certified management systems in place relating to workplace safety and the environment. In August 2014 it successfully had the relevant certifications (BS OHSAS 18001:2007 for occupational health and safety management systems, and ISO 14001:2004 for environmental management systems) renewed for another three years.

Among other things these management systems involve monitoring the development of energy consumption, carbon emissions, waste, and staff absences resulting from accidents in and outside the workplace. Repower strives for continuous improvement in these areas.

The measures implemented include covering the requirements of all Repower administrative buildings in Switzerland, and all grid losses, with renewable Purepower electricity, replacing all oil heating systems with heat pumps, reducing the fuel consumption of company vehicles, and raising employee awareness.

In Italy, Repower's Teverola combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant has four certifications: ISO 9001:2008 for the quality management system, BS OHSAS 18001:2007 for occupational safety, ISO 14001:2004 for environmental management, and EMAS 1221/2009/CE (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme), also for environmental management.

Employees

Repower's staff of around 700 people are the company's human capital. In times of turmoil such as the energy industry is currently experiencing, it is all the more important to have a corporate culture of innovation, the courage to change, initiative, dedication and motivation. Repower fosters this by means of targeted management development, market-based pay, fair conditions of employment, a culture of open feedback, and transparent internal communications.

Every two years Human Resources conducts a survey of staff satisfaction. The next one, scheduled for 2015, will enable comparisons with previous survey findings.

Repower actively manages knowledge by supporting the training efforts of motivated employees and fostering the development of young technical and management specialists.

In its capacity as an employer it also encourages people to switch jobs within the organisation, and basically always advertises vacancies internally first. To facilitate the recruitment of new staff, Repower endeavours to build and maintain a good reputation and image with strong, uniform employer branding.

Society

Employing around 400 people in Graubünden alone, Repower is an important local source of employment. These jobs are not restricted to the regional centres, but are distributed over various areas, some of them on the periphery. Last but not least, Repower's commitment includes providing vocational training by offering around 30 apprenticeships in eight different trades.

Alongside its role as an important employer in the canton, Repower takes additional responsibility for the society in which it operates. It invests, gives work to outside contractors, and generates positive economic effects for the public sector, for example by way of concession charges.

Products and projects

Repower's energy offering to customers includes the option of using renewable electricity. The standard product for consumers in Switzerland is Aquapower, 100 per cent hydropower. Repower also offers two naturemade star-certified products, Purepower and Solarpower, plus an innovative own-use tariff called Privapower.

In Italy the company has been very successful with Verde Dentro, a package combining green power with electric vehicles, and in Romania it brought a new, TÜV Rheinland-certified green power product called Naturepower to market at the beginning of this year. In another concrete contribution to promoting electric transportation, Repower has collaborated with ABB to create Palina, a charging station for electric vehicles.

Last year Repower in Italy joined forces with energy portal Orizzontenergia to help set up an innovative project designed to stimulate discussion of the often-used term “sustainability”. Eureka!, as the project is called, is a simulation that helps users decide on building a new power generation installation. Eureka! uses different variables relating to site, technology and size to simulate the impact of the new installation from an economic, environmental and social point of view. It is a useful tool that paints a comprehensive picture of all the sustainability-related aspects of a project. The simulation is available on the online platform www.progettoeureka.it. It was launched last October at a presentation to the Senate in Rome.