Hong Kong could actively consider expanding the scale of importing green electricity from the Chinese mainland to lower electricity costs, and the city’s new development areas such as the San Tin Technopole could be used as pilot zones. 

Lawmaker Michael Luk Chung-hung and energy experts made the remarks at a forum on Monday.

They said that a wider adoption of green energy for electricity generation in Hong Kong is an inevitable scenario under Hong Kong’s lofty carbon reduction goal. The government, power companies and other stakeholders must work together to improve the power grid and adopt better management strategies, so that it will not lead to a price hike.

Importing more electricity from the mainland could also contribute to Hong Kong’s decarbonization goal as over half of the electricity supplied by the CSG is generated by carbon-free energy, said Luk

In his opening remarks, Luk said that electricity costs have risen sharply in recent years because of the fluctuation in fuel prices, which has increased the burden on grassroots households.

Luk said Hong Kong’s limited local market defines the high cost of locally generated electricity. Moreover, the price of natural gas, the city’s major power energy, has been affected by the global market from time to time. 

He suggests that Hong Kong take a leaf from Macao, which imports around 90 percent of its electricity from the China Southern Power Grid (CSG), a State-owned power behemoth that supplies electricity to 272 million people in southern China.

Luk said the consistent energy supply from the mainland has kept Macao’s electricity prices not only stable, but also cheaper than Hong Kong’s.

A Hong Kong household that consumed 400 kilowatt-hours in September would have had an electric bill of HK$589.85 ($75.45) with HK Electric, or HK$592.8 with CLP Power. By comparison, a household in Macao would have been charged 542 patacas ($67.31) by CEM, the city’s sole power company.

Importing more electricity from the mainland could also contribute to Hong Kong’s decarbonization goal as over half of the electricity supplied by the CSG is generated by carbon-free energy, Luk said.

He also suggests developing the city’s new development areas, such as the San Tin Technopole, into pilot zones for the use of imported electricity. “Some high-tech industries, such as big-data bases, consume a lot of electric power for operation. If electricity price in these places is lower than in other parts of Hong Kong, more businesses will be willing to settle here,” Luk said.

In Hong Kong’s “Climate Action Plan 2050”, the special administrative region government pledges to increase the share of renewable energy in fuels for electricity generation to 7.5 percent to 10 percent by 2035.

Experts from the energy industry also discussed the prospect of renewable energy in Hong Kong’s power generation. Gao Li, chief financial officer of China Resources Power (CRP), a Hong Kong-listed power enterprise, expressed the company’s desire to provide more green electricity to Hong Kong in addition to operating photovoltaic projects in the city.

Gao said CRP has rich experience in running photovoltaic and wind power generation projects not only on the mainland but also in overseas markets such as the United Kingdom. After years of operation, he said the average price of electricity generated under CRP’s green projects is less than 0.5 yuan (7 US cents) per kWh.

Based on Hong Kong’s geographical location, Gao suggests that Hong Kong explore with Guangdong the possibility of building large-scale offshore wind farms in the surrounding waters.

Edward Lo Wai-chau, adjunct associate professor of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said Hong Kong should spend more money enhancing the electricity’s transmission and distribution network.

He said that as the city moves toward carbon neutrality, there will certainly be more and more electric vehicles on the streets, and therefore an enhanced power grid will be needed to meet EVs’ charging demands.

He also stressed the grids of different operators in the city should be further connected to enhance the electricity network’s reliability. If a company’s power grid fails, electricity can be urgently imported from another grid, Lo said.

Hong Kong also needs to strengthen the local power grids’ connectivity and compatibility with those of the mainland so that power can be transmitted from one side to the other if the need were to arise, Lo said. 

Contact the writer at williamxu@chinadailyhk.com