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Application of Renewable Energy (RE) Technologies  in Hong Kong

Starting from the 1980s, the Government has built several large-scale solar water heating installations on government buildings. Small-scale photovoltaic (PV) installations have also been used for some decades to provide power to equipment in the form of standalone (i.e. non-grid-connected) power supply systems. The first grid-connected PV installation is the 55 kW building-integrated PV installation at Wanchai Tower, built in 2002 by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) as a pilot project. Since then, a number of grid-connected PV installations have been built. In 2005, a 350 kW PV installation went into operation on the roof of the EMSD Headquarters building in Kowloon Bay.

Landfill gas from landfills has been utilized for process heating and electricity generation purpose (for on-site use) since the late 1990s. Biogas generated during the sewage treatment process has also been used for electricity generation and other process uses since the 1980s.

In April 2015, Development Bureau and Environment Bureau (now renamed as Environment and Ecology Bureau) jointly issued a technical circular "This link will open in a new windowGreen Government Buildings" (https://www.devb.gov.hk/filemanager/technicalcirculars/en/upload/336/1/C-2015-02-01.pdf). This technical circular encourages greater adoption of energy efficient features and RE technologies in public works projects, and requires works departments to regularly report their progress. (Works departments include the Architectural Services Department, Civil Engineering and Development Department, Drainage Services Department, EMSD, Highways Department, and Water Supplies Department).The technical circular also provides guidance on the criteria for the application of solar water heating, PV, wind, and biogas technologies in government projects and installations.

Starting from April 2017, the Government further strengthened its guidelines for government buildings to:

  • upgrade the target of electricity consumption powered by RE in new schools and educational buildings from the existing 1% to 1.5%;
  • upgrade the RE target in new open space and public park projects from 15% of general public lighting to 25%;
  • require government buildings to allocate at least 10% of available roof space to incorporate RE technologies;
  • require existing government buildings undergoing major retrofitting and/or renovation to incorporate RE technologies wherever practicable; and
  • install display panels, where appropriate, to show the amount of RE generated at prominent locations in new schools and educational buildings, as well as open spaces and public parks to promote the concept of RE to the public.

There are many non-government RE projects throughout the community. Other than the demonstration wind turbines and offshore wind farm feasibility studies of the power companies as described in the previous section, the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Ltd has used landfill gas for process heating in towngas production. In addition, there are quite a number of solar water heating installations, PV installations, and small wind turbines built by various sectors of the community.

The Example Projects section of this website contains information on RE installations in Hong Kong gathered through a survey exercise. Although the list of projects does not cover all RE installations in Hong Kong, it does provide a broad overview of the extent of application of RE technologies in the territory.

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