Tim Daiss

Opinion | Hong Kong choosing gas over wind power turns net zero hopes to hot air

If Hong Kong wants to meet its net zero goal by 2050, it needs a renewable energy plan that doesn’t rely on natural gas for decarbonisation

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Tim Daiss

Published: 9:30am, 13 Jun 2024

Hong Kong keeps pressing ahead with its power development plans. Last week, Polytechnic University said it had established a Research Centre for Grid Modernisation whose aim is to foster innovation and applications for Hong Kong’s power grid modernisation and the development of novel electric power systems.

Grid modernisation is a step in the right direction for the city’s power sector as an ageing electricity network and grid curtailment could complicate already problematic blackouts and brownouts. However, missing in the recent discourse seems to be how Hong Kong can realistically develop more renewable energy sources.

Part of the problem stems from the role natural gas plays in the power sector. Gas made up 37 per cent of Hong Kong’s total energy supply in 2021, with coal at 32 per cent and oil at 30 per cent. Most of that gas is imported from the mainland via underwater pipes and sent to the Black Point, Castle Peak and Lamma power stations for electricity generation and to plants in Tai Po and Ma Tau Kok for production of town gas.

Last year, Hong Kong also started importing liquefied natural gas via an offshore floating storage and regasification unit. Hong Kong has negligible indigenous gas resources.

The city’s leaders continue to view gas as an integral part of the path to decarbonisation. However, that strategy is based on a premise that is being called into question because of carbon dioxide emissions.

Gas proponents point to research claiming that gas emits around 50 per cent less CO2 than does coal when used for the power sector. However, that is increasingly seen as a false narrative in climate change mitigation. Comparing gas and coal emissions is disingenuous since coal is the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel that can be burned.