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Following is a question by the Hon Cyd Ho and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Wong Kam-sing, in the Legislative Council today (December 11):
Question:
It is learnt that the authorities make annual assessments on the trend of local electricity demand in the next decade, including the forecasts on electricity sales and maximum demand. There is a view that since the two power companies have submitted their respective Five-Year Development Plans to the authorities earlier, it is an opportune time for the authorities to assess the future demand for electricity and related infrastructures. In connection with the electricity demand and the power grid, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) whether it knows the overall situation of the use of electricity in Hong Kong at present, the monthly variations in the power systemload in 2012, and the variations in the power systemload throughout the day with the highest electricity load in the summer of that year;
(b) of the anticipated total electricity sales in Hong Kong each year between 2014 and 2020;
(c) of the highest (peak value) and lowest (valley value) electricity demand forecasts in Hong Kong each year between 2014 and 2020, with a breakdown by power company in the table in Annex 1;
(d) whether it knows the retirement schedules of the coal-fired generating units of the two power companies, and the accounting arrangements for the net value of the related fixed assets;
(e) whether it knows (i) the ownership and (ii) the party responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance, of the power grid for transmitting electricity from the Guangdong Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station to Hong Kong; and
(f) whether it knows the actual situation of the electricity transmission from Guangzhou Pumped Water Storage Power Station to Hong Kong, and the quantity of electricity and number of hours of electricity supply provided to Hong Kong by that power station in 2012?
Reply:
President,
(a) In 2012, the total electricity sales in Hong Kong is about 43,000 GWh. The chart in Annex 2 shows the monthly demand profile and the load curve of the local peak days in 2012 for The Hongkong Electric Company Limited (HKE) and CLP Power Hong Kong Limited (CLP Power).
(b) and (c) The two power companies considered that part (b) and (c) of the question would involve their projections of future sales growth and electricity demand growth. The disclosure of the related information would indicate to suppliers the two power companies' underlying demands which could increase their bargaining power in prices setting leading to higher prices to be borne by the Hong Kong citizens. Hence, the related information cannot be disclosed publicly.
(d) For HKE, Lamma units L1 and L3 will be retired in 2017 and 2018 respectively upon reaching their retirement ages within the 2014-18 Development Plan. According to general accounting principles, the depreciation is amortised over the useful lives of the assets. Thus, the written down value of these retired coal-fired units will be zero upon retirement. For CLP, there is no plan to decommission coal-fired plants in the 2014-18 Development Plan.
(e) Electricity is delivered from Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station to CLP Power through two sets of high-voltage transmission line. The transmission line connecting Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station and CLP Power's Tai Po substation is owned by CLP Power. CLP Power also owns a portion of another transmission line connecting Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station and CLP Power's Yuen Long substation via a substation in Shenzhen.
CLP Power is responsible for the operation and maintenance of transmission lines it owns.
(f) Guangzhou Pumped Storage Power Station (GPPS) stores energy generated by other power stations by pumping water from a lower to an upper reservoir. The stored energy can then be recovered by running the hydro units in reverse as generators, with their output available to the grid system at times of peak demand or as backup if other units shut down unexpectedly. The pumped storage function also enables nuclear plant to remain at full base load operation despite fluctuations in system demand from day to night.
The utilisation of pumped storage power station would depend on the system operational requirement, and is generally lower than those of base load plants. Also, in view of the reservoir storage space, typically pumped storage power station only operates for a few hours in a day. In 2012, the number of operating hours was about 2 300, and the sent out from GPPS to CLP Power was about 2 per cent of CLP Power's total sent out.
Ends/Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:30
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