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4
AWord from
our CEO
“Contributing towards a low-carbon
future for Hong Kong continued to
be a high priority for HKEI in 2016.”
The year 2016 marked another significant step forward
for HKEI in its low-carbon journey. In this report, I am
delighted to share our achievements and efforts to drive
sustainability across our operations, among our employees
and in the community.
During the review period, we launched a number of
significant projects to support the Government’s target
of reducing Hong Kong’s carbon intensity by 50-60% by
2020 from the 2005 level. We also worked closely with the
Government to devise a long-term energy policy and a
post-2018 regulatory framework that will benefit the
sustainable development of Hong Kong. HK Electric is
confident that the final framework will enable us to
maintain our track record of providing safe, reliable,
clean and affordable electricity to our customers.
A Future Powered by Natural Gas
Natural gas, which currently contributes to over 33% of
our electricity output, is a cleaner fuel with lower carbon
and other emissions as compared to coal.
Since 2005, just before we introduced natural gas at
Lamma Power Station, we have reduced our carbon
emissions by 14%. Emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen
oxides and respirable suspended particulates have also
been cut by 50-90% over the same period.
Further reductions will be achieved by increasing the
proportion of natural gas used to generate electricity
through projects such as the new L10 gas-fired combined-
cycle unit at Lamma Power Station. In 2016, we made
good progress in the construction of L10, keeping us on
track for its commissioning in 2020. By then, our gas-fired
generation will rise to about 50%. Following the
Government’s approval in September 2016, we have
proceeded to build another new gas-fired unit, L11, that
will enable us to further increase the gas proportion of
our fuel mix to about 55% by 2022.
To support our long-term goal of increasing gas-fired
generation, it will be critical for us to obtain a secure and
competitive long-term gas supply. We therefore partnered
with CLP Power Hong Kong Limited to conduct an
Environmental Impact Assessment of an offshore terminal
for receiving liquefied natural gas from overseas. If
approved, the project will give us direct access to the
international gas market and increase our bargaining
power in securing gas supplies.
Towards a Greener Society Together
As well as reducing the carbon emissions on the generation
side, we have been exploring ways to save energy with
our stakeholders.
During the year, we continued to roll out various initiatives
to encourage the smart use of energy in the community.
For instance, we have approved eight projects across
Hong Kong Island under our Smart Power Fund, bringing
the total number of successful applications to 29, providing
a total of more than $4.6 million in funding for a variety of
energy-efficiency enhancement projects since the Fund’s
inception in 2014.
In green education, we nurtured secondary school students
to promote energy saving through the Happy Green
Community Ambassadors programme under our Smart
Power Campaign. We continued to run the Happy Green
Schools label scheme, encouraging green educational
activities for children in about 350 schools.
Our Green Hong Kong Green programme, promoting
eco-tourism and conservation, was named an Outstanding
Partnership Project by The Hong Kong Council of
Social Service.
As a member of the Government’s Steering Committee on
the Promotion of Electric Vehicles (EVs), I am pleased to see
the growing popularity of EVs in Hong Kong as they will
help improve roadside air quality. We have played our part
by strengthening the technical and advisory services to