Daya Bay plant key to fuel HK's green growth

Nuclear station operator CGNPG vows more clean power supply for the SAR

As a major power supplier for Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Daya Bay nuclear power station, which has been sending power to the area for 27 years, is poised to fuel local development with more clean energy, said the power plant's operator China General Nuclear Power Group.

Located in South China's Guangdong province, the plant sends more than 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, accounting for one-quarter of the region's electricity supply, CGNPG said.

With 80 percent of the clean nuclear power sent to the region to help with Hong Kong's development and economy, the State-owned operator said the company will continuously support the development of Hong Kong with more clean energy.

As of June, two units of Daya Bay station have produced 389.56 billion kWh of electricity since 1994, and sent 279.48 billion kWh of power to Hong Kong.

Since its commercial operations began, the station has maintained safe and reliable operation and contributed to the socioeconomic development and environmental protection of Hong Kong as well as the Pearl River Delta region, the company said.

An analyst said the Daya Bay nuclear power station has always provided clean and environmentally friendly energy, supporting the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in its efforts to curb air pollution.

The nuclear power station will continue to play a key role in the Hong Kong SAR government's long-term measures of securing stable electricity supply, helping the region achieve climate change targets by 2030, said Wei Hanyang, a power market analyst at research firm BloombergNEF.

The Hong Kong SAR government said it aims to reduce the city's carbon intensity by 65 to 70 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels, equal to an absolute reduction of 26 percent to 36 percent or 3.3 to 3.8 metric tons in per capita emissions by 2030.

"As the SAR government is shifting toward a carbon-neutral future, Hong Kong will definitely need a significant portion of power from its own renewables, and increase clean imports from Guangdong province," said Wei. "In addition to nuclear power investments, Hong Kong should also consider shareholding in building renewable plants in Guangdong to better achieve its carbon reduction goal by 2030."

CGNPG said the Daya Bay plant will always be running at full power to provide safe and stable power to Hong Kong, with no residue or carbon emissions.

The group said sustainable development of nuclear projects will be one of the measures that must be taken to ease global climate change.