Electricity sector in Hong Kong ranges from

generation A generation refers to all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It can also be described as, "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and gr ...

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission *** ...

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations * Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a vari ...

and sales of electricity covering

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. The combustion of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

and

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

are the main sources of electricity in Hong Kong. The electricity sector contributes 60.4% of Hong Kong's total

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...

. There are two main providers of electricity in Hong Kong.

Companies

Power generation in Hong Kong is managed by two major companies under a Scheme of Control arrangement with the Hong Kong Government. These companies effectively operate in a regulated market.

Hongkong Electric Company

The

Hongkong Electric Company The Hongkong Electric Company (HEC; ) is one of Hong Kong's two main electricity generation companies, the other being China Light & Power. The company is owned by several companies including Power Assets Holdings, State Grid Corporation of Chi ...

(HEC; ) HEC's supply area includes

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

and

Lamma Island Lamma Island, also known as Y Island or Pok Liu Chau or simply Pok Liu, is the third largest island in Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Islands District. Name Lamma Island was named Lamma only because of a chart reading error by ...

. HEC owns and operates: *

Lamma Power Station Lamma Power Station, informally known as Lamma Island Power Station, is a thermal power station and solar farm in Po Lo Tsui, Lamma Island, Hong Kong. With an installed capacity of 3,617 MW, the power station is the second largest coal-fired p ...

* Lamma Winds Power Station

CLP Power Hong Kong Limited

The CLP Power Hong Kong Limited (CLP; ) under the CLP Group was founded on 25 January 1901 as China Light & Power Company Syndicate in

British Hong Kong Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the British Empire from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the Briti ...

. CLP's supply area includes Kowloon, New Territories and outlying islands except Lamma Island. CLP owns the following power stations in Hong Kong territory under a joint-venture company Castle Peak Power Company Limited (CAPCO) with China Southern Power Grid International (HK) Co., Limited. *

Black Point Power Station Black Point Power Station () is a gas-fired power station in Lung Kwu Tan, New Territories, Hong Kong. The power station is operated by CLP Group. History In the late 1980s, China Light and Power (CLP) examined several potential sites for the ...

Castle Peak Power Station The Castle Peak Power Station () is the largest coal-fired power station in Hong Kong. It is situated in Tap Shek Kok, Tuen Mun District, on the north shore of Urmston Road. It was named after the nearby Castle Peak, Hong Kong, Castle Peak. The st ...

Penny's Bay Power Station Penny's Bay Power Station () is a gas turbine power station in Penny's Bay, Hong Kong. The HKD 1.1 billion power station was commissioned on 25 March 1992. The complex consists of three open cycle gas turbines in a rectangular turbine hall with ...

CLP also owns 25% shares of the Guangdong Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station and wholly owns Guangzhou Pumped Storage Power Station in

Conghua Conghua District, alternately romanized as Tsungfa, is one of 11 urban districts and the northernmost district of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China. Conghua connects the Pearl River Delta with th ...

Generation

Fuel

In 2012, Hong Kong relied on

(53%),

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

(23%),

(22%) and a very small amount (2%) of

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

for its electricity generation. As coal-firing generation units start to retire in 2017, the Government plans to raise the share of natural gas to 50% in 2020 while maintaining the share of nuclear power at present levels. The Government announced that in the year 2020, around half of electricity generation had been met by natural gas, and generation from coal had been successfully reduced to about a quarter, with the remaining generation from imported nuclear energy from the mainland and

renewables Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

(utility and

off-grid Off-the-grid or off-grid is a characteristic of buildings and a lifestyle designed in an independent manner without reliance on one or more public utilities. The term "off-the-grid" traditionally refers to not being connected to the electrical gr ...

Power stations in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has currently 5

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

s, supplying 77% of its electricity needs in 2012. ;Black Point Power Station Commissioned in 1996, the

is a gas-fired power station located in Yung Long,

Tuen Mun Tuen Mun or Castle Peak is an area near the mouth of Tuen Mun River and Castle Peak Bay in the New Territories, Hong Kong. It was one of the earliest settlements in what is now Hong Kong and can be dated to the Neolithic period. In the more re ...

in the

New Territories The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically, it ...

. It is the largest gas-fired power station in Hong Kong with an installed generation capacity of 2,500MW. ;Castle Peak Power Station Commissioned in 1982, the

is a coal-fired power station located Tap Shek Kok,

in the

. It is the largest power station in Hong Kong with an installed generation capacity of 4,108MW. ;Lamma Power Station Commissioned in 1982, the

is a coal-fired power station located on Po Lo Tsui,

, part of the

Islands District The Islands District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is part of the New Territories. It had a population of 170,900 in 2018. Hong Kong consists of a peninsula and 263 islands. The Islands District consists of some twenty large an ...

. It is the second largest power station in Hong Kong at an installed generation capacity of 3,237 MW. ;Lamma Winds Power Station Commissioned in 2006, the Lamma Winds Power Station is a

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

located on

. It is the only industrial-sized

in Hong Kong with an installed generation capacity of 800 kW. ;Penny's Bay Power Station Commissioned in 1992, the

is a diesel-fired gas turbine power station located at

Penny's Bay Penny's Bay or Chok Ko Wan () was a bay in north-eastern Lantau Island, and had been a port since the Ming dynasty. The bay has since been reclaimed and is the site of the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, which consists of the Hong Kong Disneyland ...

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located West of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands ...

. It is a

peaking power station Peaking power plants, also known as peaker plants, and occasionally just "peakers", are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity. Because they supply power only occasionally, the power ...

with an installed generation capacity of 300MW.

Interconnection with China

CLP's electrical grid is interconnected with the China Southern Power Grid of Mainland China. Hong Kong imports 23% of its total electricity needs from generating facilities with CLP's equity situated in the mainland. These include a contractual agreement of 70% electricity output from the 2 x 944 MW

Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant Daya Nuclear Power Plant () is a nuclear power plant located in Daya Bay in Longgang District, along the eastern extremity of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China; and to the north east of Hong Kong. Daya Bay has two 944 MWe PWR nuclear reactors based ...

and some

peaking power Peaking power plants, also known as peaker plants, and occasionally just "peakers", are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity. Because they supply power only occasionally, the powe ...

/pumping load from Guangzhou Pumped Storage Power Station in

. Recently, CLP said that it would buy 10% more nuclear power from Daya Bay Plant, increasing the share to 80% of the plant's output capacity. But with the increasing electricity demand in southern China, it will be difficult for CLP to acquire 100% of the plant's output capacity.

Transmission

HEC transmits electricity on Hong Kong Island at 275 kV and 132 kV voltage level to various load centres, in which the network consists mainly of underground and

submarine cable Submarine cable is any electrical cable that is laid on the seabed, although the term is often extended to encompass cables laid on the bottom of large freshwater bodies of water. Examples include: *Submarine communications cable *Submarine power ...

. The network is owned and operated by HEC. There are only few remaining 132 kV

overhead power line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy across large distances. It consists of one or more uninsulated electrical cables (commonly multiples of three for three-p ...

s in the system. The use of underground cable was chosen because it is ideal for a densely populated area like Hong Kong, and to ensure supply reliability even in bad weather, such as during typhoon. There are also six dedicated cable tunnels to accommodate some of the 275 kV fluid-filled cable circuits in

and

. In most of the load centres, the voltage is being stepped down to 22 kV or 11 kV for distribution purpose. CLP transmits electricity in

Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...

and

at 400 kV and 132 kV voltage level. These transmission networks consist mainly of

overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipmen ...

s. The network is owned and operated by CLP Power. In most of the load centres, the voltage is stepped down to 11 kV for distribution. Transmission networks of CLP Power and HEC are interconnected by three 132 kV submarine circuits from

Hung Hom Hung Hom () is an area in the southeast of Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong. Including the area of Whampoa, Tai Wan, Hok Yuen, Lo Lung Hang and No. 12 Hill are administratively part of the Kowloon City District, with a portion west of Hung Ho ...

North Point North Point is a mixed-use urban area in the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern District of Hong Kong. Located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island, the area is named after a cape between Tin Hau, Hong Kong, Causeway Bay and Tsat Ts ...

for emergency support but no economy power interchange is normally scheduled. CLP's 400 kV transmission network is also interconnected with the 500 kV China Southern Power Grid in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

Province.

Distribution

HK Sheung Wan 151 Caine Road 2nd Floor metering April-2011

Electricity is distributed at 22 kV and 11 kV voltage level to over 3,800 distribution substations on HEC side. CLP distributes power mainly at 11 kV level. Voltage is further stepped down to 380 V

three-phase Three-phase electric power (abbreviated 3φ) is a common type of alternating current used in electricity generation, Electric power transmission, transmission, and Electric power distribution, distribution. It is a type of polyphase system empl ...

or 220 V

single-phase In electrical engineering, single-phase electric power (abbreviated 1φ) is the distribution of alternating current electric power using a system in which all the voltages of the supply vary in unison. Single-phase distribution is used when load ...

and supplied through

low voltage In electrical engineering, low voltage is a relative term, the definition varying by context. Different definitions are used in electric power transmission and distribution, compared with electronics design. electrical safety codes define "low vo ...

cables to customers.

Control centres

The system control centre located at

Ap Lei Chau Ap Lei Chau or Aberdeen Island is an List of islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island of Hong Kong, located off Hong Kong Island next to Aberdeen Harbour, Hong Kong, Aberdeen Harbour and Aberdeen Channel. It has an area of after land recl ...

monitors and controls all of the switching in HEC's distribution substations remotely. CLP has its system control centre in

Tai Po district Tai Po District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. The suburban district covers the areas of Tai Po New Town (including areas such as Tai Po Market, , Tai Po Industrial Estate, Tai Wo Estate), Tai Po Tau, Tai Po Kau, Hong Lok Yuen, Ti ...

Consumption

In 2021, of electricity was consumed, accounting for 51.8% of total energy consumption in Hong Kong. Electricity usage based on industry in Hong Kong are 66% (commercial), 26% (residential), 6% (industrial) and 2% (transportation). Peak demand of electricity use was 9.942 GW.