Page 17 - Sphere No.17 (Sep 2006)

SPHERE 15
faced with intense summer heat and a steep hill, but thousands
of school children and day visitors have already visited the site,
which commands a glorious view of the Hong Kong harbour
channel and the main island itself. On a windy day, there is a
thrilling thrum from the fast-turning wind turbine arms.
“It took about five years from it first being suggested to the
actual commissioning this February, as we did detailed envi-
ronmental impact assessments,” says Dr C W Tso, Chief En-
gineer (Projects) of Hongkong Electric. “Our objective was
to promote renewable energy and get ex-
perience. It is a gesture of commitment to
showing our corporate responsibility. It is
a pilot project to see if it is feasible and
cost effective.”
As a general rule, wind turbines are
pricey ways of generating energy. The
project costs roughly USD2,400 a
kilowatt, compared to USD600-700
for more traditional fuels.
Large numbers of wind turbines sit-
ed together can result in economies of
scale – assuming that there is plenty of
space to put them. In Hong Kong, there
are few unpopulated flat patches of land,
certainly none large enough to take ranks
of hi-tech windmills. However, based on
the success of Lamma Winds, Hongkong
Electric is already planning to build an off-
shore wind farm, a 100 megawatt operation
either 3.5 kilometres southwest of Lamma or
near the Ninepin Islands in the far east of Hong
Kong waters, by 2012. The wind farm would be able
to produce 175 million kilowatt hours of electricity
each year, enough to supply 50,000 families.
Air quality
Other countries have had success with harnessing wind power,
and the Lamma Winds project goes into some detail on this sub-
ject. Arrayed round the site are information boards listing how
the world measures up in wind-power terms: As at the end of
2005 according to the Global Wind Energy Council, Germany
was tops with some 18,428 megawatts of installed capacity, Spain
second with 10,027, and the United States third with 9,149.
Mainland China, with 1,260 megawatts, makes eighth place.
Statistics, of course, do not always give the full picture. Den-
mark, which does not feature in the top trio, is generally reck-
oned to be the wind-power pioneer.
Back in Hong Kong, residents are increasingly concerned
about air quality. Despite the govern-
ment claim that the local electricity
sector is the main contributor to air
pollution, statistics show that more
than 80 per cent of pollutants in the
Pearl River Delta originate from the delta itself and not
Hong Kong. Despite efforts by the governments of Hong Kong
and Guangdong province to clean up the air, clouds of soot and
smoke still manage to drift down the Pearl River Delta, regu-
larly engulfing Hong Kong with thick smog.
Blue skies
In the city itself, Hongkong Electric has been making strenuous
efforts to reduce emissions at Lamma Power Station where a
be the quality of the Hong Kong air
and the return of blue skies