Energy Scene of Hong Kong Dr. K.M. LEUNG, Chief Engineer / Energy Efficiency A Frank CHU, Senior Electrical and Mechanical Engineer Jimmy HUI, Electrical and Mechanical Engineer Energy Efficiency Office Electrical and Mechanical Services Department Government of HKSAR Abstract riers play their respective roles in serving the final en- ergy demand - electricity, gas, and oil products. These In Hong Kong, three major types of energy carriers three types of energy carriers serve quite different end- play their respective roles in serving the final energy uses, with limited degrees of competition amongst demand - electricity, gas, and oil products. In this them. For the energy supply sector, the private sector paper, the electricity demand and supply situation of is relied upon to supply Hong Kong's energy require- Hong Kong is described. Overall energy consumption pattern of Hong Kong is outlined. A ments. These are a number of power stations and town- comparison of energy intensity figures between Hong gas plants. There are no refineries in Hong Kong. Kong and other economies is also made. The results of a recent study on benchmarking of energy Carbon dioxide emissions account for over 99% (by consumption indicators of office buildings and retail weight) of the greenhouse gas emissions of Hong premises are highlighted. Kong, and the energy sector is the major contributor to Hong Kong's carbon dioxide emissions. Electricity The Government of HKSAR has completed a study on generation alone accounts for over 60% of all carbon the potential applications of renewable energy in dioxide emissions. Hong Kong. Some study results are presented. Since the early 90s, the Government of HKSAR has Being fully aware of the importance of energy to the been actively promoting energy efficiency and city and the associated environmental issues, the ob- conservation, in order to reduce energy demand. jectives of the energy policy of Hong Kong are stated The scope and extent of impact of these initiatives as follows: are briefly described. § to ensure that the energy needs of the community are met safely, efficiently and at reasonable prices; Keywords and § to minimise the environmental impact of energy Energy demand and supply, energy intensity, production and use and promote the efficient use benchmarking, renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation of energy. and conservation. 1. INTRODUCTION 2. ELECTRICITY DEMAND & SUPPLY Of the 1098 km2 land area of Hong Kong, built- 2.1 Electricity Demand up areas occupy only 1/6 of it, the rest being Figure 1: GDP and Electricity Demand woodlands, grass and shrubs areas, swamp and 50,000 1,000,000 Local electricity demand 45,000 900,000 mangrove areas, and so on. In such a small area Real GDP live 6.8 million people (at end 2002). Given 40,000 800,000 such extremely high population density, energy 35,000 700,000 is of utmost importance to the proper func- 30,000 600,000 25,000 500,000 tioning of the city. GWh 20,000 400,000 Hong Kong does not have any indigenous pro- 15,000 300,000 duction of fuels. All primary fuels, be it coal, 10,000 200,000 Million HKD (constant 1990 prices) oil products, or natural gas, are imported. 5,000 100,000 0 0 In Hong Kong, three major types of energy car- 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 The electricity consumption of Industrial Sector is Electricity demand grew almost in pace with GDP. made up of two opposite trends - declining consump- Figure 1 illustrates this point. tion of manufacturing industries and increasing con- sumption of non-manufacturing industries (e.g. con- Total local electricity demand in 2001 was about tainer terminals, water and sewage pumping). The 37261 GWh. Table 1 compares the per-capita elec- overall trend is a decling one. tricity consumption figures of selected APEC econo- mies, using data from the APEC Energy Statistics The largest end-use of electricity is space- 2000. The per-capita electricity consumption is mod- conditioning, accounting for about 1/3 of total elec- est as compared to the advanced economies like Japan tricity consumption. and US. Low level of industrial activities is probably one of the reasons. 2.2 Electricity Supply Economy kWh/person/annum There are two electricity supply companies in Hong _______________________________________ Kong - CLP Power Hong Kong Limited (CLP Power) and the Hongkong Electric Company Limited (HEC), Hong Kong 5338 both of which are investor-owned. They do not have a Japan 7622 franchise. On a de facto basis, CLP Power supplies Malaysia 2630 electricity to Kowloon and the New Territories, in- Chinese Taipei 7207 Thailand 1448 cluding Lantau, Cheung Chau and several outlying is- United States 12861 lands, whereas HEC supplies electricity to Hong Kong _________________________________ Island and the neighbouring islands of Ap Lei Chau and Lamma. Table 1. Per-capita electricity consumption figures of selected APEC economies for year 2000 The local power generation facilities are made up of coal-fired steam plants (the Lamma Power Station and Figure 2 shows the breakdown of electricity consump- the Castle Peak Power Station), natural gas combined- cycle plants (the Black Point Power Station), Figure 2: Sectoral Breakdown of Electricity Consumption and oil-fired gas turbines. CLP Power also 25,000 imports electricity from the Guangdong Nu- Commercial clear Power Station at Daya Bay and the Residential 20,000 Industrial Guangzhou Pumped Storage Power Station. Transport 15,000 The total installed electricity generating ca- pacity is 11,683 MW, including local facili- GWh 10,000 ties as well as parts of the capacity of the Guangdong Nuclear Power Station at Daya 5,000 Bay and the Guangzhou Pumped Storage Power Station. The per-capita installed ca- 0 pacity is about 1.7 kW/person. Table 2 com- 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 pares the per-capita installed capacity figures of selected APEC economies, using data from tion into contributions of Residential, Commercial, In- the APEC Energy Statistics 2000. dustrial, and Transport Sectors, according to the Hong Kong Energy End-use Database. The amounts of electricity consumption of Commer- cial, Residential, and Transport Sectors are all increas- ing. The fastest growth occurs in the Commercial Sector, with average annual growth rate of 7.8% over the period concerned. (49%) and methane (28.5%). It is supplied by the Hong Economy kW/person Kong and China Gas Company Limited, which is also an _______________________________________ investor-owned company. The raw material for manu- facturing towngas is naphtha. The Tai Po Plant, being Hong Kong 1.70 the main production plant, has maximum capacity of Japan 1.81 8.4 million standard cubic metres per day. Penetration Malaysia 0.59 rate of towngas amongst households in Hong Kong is Chinese Taipei 1.56 Thailand 0.37 about 66% in 2001. United States 2.91 _________________________________ LPG is imported. Some housing estates are provided with central liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), supplied by Table 2. Per-capita installed generation capacity figures of selected APEC economies for Figure 3: Gas Consumption year 2000 35,000 LPG 30,000 Towngas In the 70s, the main power plant type was oil, be- ing replaced by coal-fired units in the 80s. In the 25,000 90s, nuclear, gas-fired combined cycle and 20,000 pumped storage plants all took part in the picture. TJ (net) 15,000 In terms of power plant types, the mix for in- stalled power generation capacity is shown in ta- 10,000 ble 3. Coal-fired units still account for over half 5,000 of the installed capacity. 0 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Plant type Percentage the oil companies. Bottled LPG is used in homes and _____________________________________ other types of premises. Coal fired 57.1 % Oil fired 9.6 % Towngas and LPG are two competing fuels. Figure 3 Natural-gas-fired 16.2 % shows the past gas consumption trend (data from the Nuclear 11.9 % Hong Kong Energy End-use Database). LPG con- Pumped storage 5.2% sumption has been declining since the early 90s. In re- _______________________________ cent years, due to the implementation of the LPG taxi scheme, with the switch from use of diesel to LPG, Table 3. Plant mix of total installed generation LPG consumption has rebounded. The majority of the capacity total 18,000 taxis has already been converted from us- ing diesel to using LPG. Further trials on the use of In year 2001, total equivalent primary fuel input to lo- LPG and electric public and private light buses have cal power plants is about 374,000 TJ, making up of: also been successful. Another incentive scheme has coal 48%, natural gas 25%, thermal-equivalent of nu- started since August 2002 to encourage diesel light clear 27%. buses to be replaced with ones using electricity or LPG. 3. GAS AND OIL PRODUCTS DEMAND & SUPPLY Figure 4: Local Consumption of Oil Products 160,000 Local Consumptin of Oil 3.1 Gas 140,000 Products (Except LPG) 120,000 Towngas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) 100,000 are consumed by end-users. Natural gas is 80,000 used solely for electricity generation, and not TJ (net) for final consumption. 60,000 40,000 Towngas is the major piped gas in Hong Kong. 20,000 The main elements in the gas are hydrogen 0 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Sector-wise, the commercial sector is the one with 3.2 Oil Products (Other than LPG) highest growth in energy consumption.