Polluted HK looks to the winds for cleaner power
Date: 07-May-01
Country: CHINA
Author: Kwan Chooi Tow
For Leung Wing-cheong, who runs a restaurant catering to visitors to sleepy Po Toi island, the project could spell the end of monthly trips to Hong Kong island to lug back 28 drums of diesel to generate 24-hour electricity for his business.
Environment group Friends of the Earth hopes the wind monitoring station, commissioned by Hongkong Electric Co Ltd, will have much broader benefits - harnessing a clean energy resource for use elsewhere in the increasingly polluted territory.
"We have to load and unload the drums of diesel ourselves. If installing a wind turbine generator is viable, it would be so much more convenient," said Leung, who estimates he spends about HK$8,000 (US$1,025) a month for his energy requirements.
Most of Hong Kong's power comes from local coal and gas-fired plants, with a small amount from China's Daya Bay nuclear plant.
"Wind power is attractive because it can be built very fast and it can be built with a very small investment," said Eric Walker, research coordinator for Friends of the Earth.
At some of the best wind sites in the U.K., the cost of wind power is comparable to that of fossil fuels, he said.
The environment group set up the station on April 24 on Po Toi, whose 20-odd residents are mainly elderly folks who harvest seaweed or run restaurants catering to weekend visitors.
For the next 12 months, the station will collect wind data so that a "wind atlas" of Hong Kong can be compiled.
If the data indicates it is feasible and economically viable, the wind could be used to light up and power Po Toi in two years, Walker said.
But mobilising wind power for use on a large scale throughout hilly Hong Kong may not be viable, said N.Y. Cheung, chief engineer of projects at Hongkong Electric, whose coal-fired plants supplies electricity to Hong Kong and Lamma islands.
"For Hong Kong island, we feel that the potential for using wind power is not great because of the geographical constraints and the scarcity of open space," he said.
A wind farm capable of generating several hundred megawatts of electricity might need about 20 times as much land as a conventional fossil fuel power plant, he said.
The investment required could be between US$3,000-4,000 per kilowatt, versus about US$1,000 per kilowatt for a conventional coal-fired generator, he said.
Wind farms could be located in the rural New Territories, with power transmitted to more densely populated Hong Kong island, but transmission losses could be higher, said Cheung. Another issue is whether wind energy would be reliable enough for domestic and commercial use.
"For us, reliability is the most important factor," Cheung said, adding that users cannot depend on wind energy if it is not available for large periods of the year.
Po Toi residents pay about HK$3 per kilowatt hour for their power, about thrice the tariffs for Hong Kong residents, he said.
"But the cost to Po Toi residents could be a lot higher," said Cheung, referring to other issues such as sound and noise pollution from diesel-powered generators.
Government-owned diesel generators on Po Toi also run for only 12 hours a day.
Cheung estimates Po Toi residents would need just a single wind turbine with a capacity of one or two megawatts, with the the diesel-powered generators serving as back-ups.
"I strongly believe we can use wind power," he added.