Electricity sector in Hong Kong

Hong Kong being lit up at night

Electricity sector in Hong Kong ranges from generation, transmission, distribution and sales of electricity covering Hong Kong. There are two main providers of electricity in Hong Kong.

Companies

Hongkong Electric Company headquarter
CLP Group headquarter

Power generation in Hong Kong is managed by two major companies under a scheme of control arrangement with the Hong Kong Government.[1] These companies effectively operate in a regulated market.

Hongkong Electric Company

The Hongkong Electric Company (HEC; Chinese: 香港電燈有限公司) was founded on 1 December 1890 in British Hong Kong.[2]

HKC owns and operates:

China Light and Power Co., Ltd.

The China Light and Power Co., Ltd. (CLP; Chinese: 中華電力有限公司) under the CLP Group was founded on 25 January 1901 as China Light & Power Company Syndicate in British Hong Kong.

CLP owns and operates:

CLP also owns 25% of shareholder of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong.[3]

Generation

Fuel

In 2012, Hong Kong relied on coal (53%), nuclear (23%), natural gas (22%) and a very small amount (2%) of renewable energy for its electricity generation.[4] As coal-fuelled production units start to retire in 2017,[4] the Government plans to raise the share of natural gas to 50% in 2020 while maintaining the share of nuclear power at present levels.[5]

Power stations in Hong Kong

Castle Peak Power Station, Tuen Mun, the largest power station in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has currently 5 power generation centers, supplying 77% of its electricity needs.[6]

Black Point Power Station

Commissioned in 1996, the Black Point Power Station is a gas-fired power station located at Tuen Mun District in the New Territories. It is the only gas-fired power station in Hong Kong at an installed generation capacity of 2,500 MW.

Castle Peak Power Station

Commissioned in 1982, the Castle Peak Power Station is a coal-fired power station located at Tuen Mun District in the New Territories. It is the largest power station in Hong Kong at an installed generation capacity of 4,108 MW.

Lamma Power Station

Commissioned in 1982, the Lamma Power Station is a coal-fired power station located at Islands District in the New Territories. It is the second largest power station in Hong Kong at an installed generation capacity of 3,736 MW.[7]

Lamma Winds

Commissioned in 2006, the Lamma Winds is a wind farm located at Islands District in the New Territories. It is the only wind farm in Hong Kong at an installed generation capacity of 800 kW.

Penny's Bay Power Station

Commissioned in 1992, the Penny's Bay Power Station is a diesel and gas-fired power station located at Islands District in the New Territories. It is the smallest fossil-fuel power station in Hong Kong with an installed generation capacity of 300 MW.

Interconnection with China

Hong Kong electrical grid is interconnected with the grid of Mainland China. Hong Kong imports 23% of its total electricity needs from the mainland, which mainly comes from 70% of the electricity output generated by the 2 x 944 MW Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant in Shenzhen, Guangdong.[3][6] Recently, CLP said that it would buy 10% more nuclear power from Daya Bay Plant, increasing the share to 80% of the plant's output capacity. But with the increasing electricity demand in southern China, it will be difficult for CLP to acquire 100% of the plant's output capacity.[8]

Transmission

Transmission line in Tai Po suburbs
Sheung Wan Zone Substation

In Hong Kong Island, electricity is transmitted at the 275 and 132 kV voltage level to various load centers, in which the network consists mainly of underground and submarine cable. The network is owned and operated by HEC. There are only few remaining 132 kV overhead lines in the system. The use of underground cable was chosen because it is ideal for a densely populated area like Hong Kong, and to ensure supply reliability even in bad weather, such as during typhoon.

There are also 6 dedicated cable tunnels to accommodate some of the 275 kV fluid-filled cable circuits in Hong Kong Island and Lamma Island.[9]

In most of the load centres, the voltage is being stepped down to 22 kV or 11 kV for distribution purpose.[10]

In Kowloon and New Territories, electricity is transmitted at the 400 and 132 kV voltage level, in which the transmission network consists mainly of overhead lines. The network is owned and operated by CLP Power. In most of the load centres, the voltage is stepped down to 11 kV for distribution purpose.

Transmission networks of CLP Power and HEC are interconnected by three 132 kV submarine cables for emergency support but no economy power interchanges.

CLP's 400kV transmission network is also interconnected with the 500 kV network in Guangdong Province.

Distribution

Overhead distribution line in Lamma Island
kWh meters in Hong Kong

Electricity is distributed at 22 kV and 11 kV voltage level to over 3,800 distribution substations. Voltage is further stepped down to 380 V three-phase or 220 V single-phase and supplied through low voltage underground cables to customers.

Control centre

The system control center located at Ap Lei Chau monitors and controls all of the switching in distribution substations remotely.

Consumption

In 2008, the percentage of electricity usage based on industry in Hong Kong are: 65% (commercial), 25% (residential), 8% (industrial) and 2% (transportation).[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.enb.gov.hk/en/resources_publications/agreement/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ "Electricity Generation". HK Electric. 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  3. 1 2 "立法會Legislative Council LC Paper No. CB(2)767/10-11(02) Ref : CB2/PL/SE Panel on Security" (PDF). 11 January 2011. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  4. 1 2 Hong Kong Environment Bureau (March 2015). Report on the Public Consultation on Future Fuel Mix for Electricity Generation in Hong Kong (PDF) (Report). p. 1. Retrieved 2015-12-11. In 2012, coal dominated the overall fuel mix in Hong Kong (53%), followed by nuclear electricity imported from the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station (DBNPS) in the Mainland (23%), natural gas (22%), and oil and renewable energy (RE) (2%) ... existing coal-fired generating units start to retire from 2017
  5. ↑ "Public Consultation on Future Development of Electricity Market launched" (Press release). Hong Kong. Hong Kong Environment Bureau. 2015-03-31. Retrieved 2015-12-11. Having considered the public's views, the Government plans to increase the percentage of natural gas generation to around 50 per cent in 2020 ... nuclear import would account for around 25 per cent of the total fuel mix.
  6. 1 2 "Hong Kong Needs ‘Dedicated Nuclear’ From China, Says Society". nucnet.org. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  7. ↑ "Lamma Power Station Extension". HK Electric. 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  8. ↑ William Yu (2014-03-31). "Hong Kong will gain from a more diversified energy portfolio | South China Morning Post". Scmp.com. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  9. ↑ "Cable Tunnels 電纜隧道" (PDF). 24 September 2007. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
  10. ↑ "Transmission & Distribution". HK Electric. 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
  11. ↑ "香港能源最終用途數據 Hong Kong Energy End-use Data 2010" (PDF). 30 August 2010. Retrieved 2014-08-23.

Further reading

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