OBSERVATION: Hong Kong’s roofs are vastly underutilized and contribute the city’s “heat island effect.”
SOLUTION: Provide solar photovoltaic collectors on the rooftops of large buildings wherever practical.
For decades, Hong Kong’s power generation has relied upon the duopoly of HongKong Electric Company and CLP Power Hong Kong Limited — both of which rely heavily on the use of fossil fuels to generate electricity — which currently provide 80% of the city’s power needs. The other 20% is provided via links to the China Southern Power Grid of Mainland China. Energy-related affairs are currently regulated by the Government’s Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD).
However, over the past several years Hong Kong has finally jumped on the sustainability bandwagon by offering some incentives to install solar photovoltaic (PV) collectors, along with a program to sell back excess electricity back into the electrical grid, through a Feed-in Tariff scheme.
While there are significant upfront installation and maintenance costs, like many other global cities, the excess supply of electricity generated by PV collectors can now be sold back into the city’s power grid, at purportedly up to five times the market rate. It is estimated that many smaller systems could have a 4-6 year payback period.
While PV collectors on the rooftops of smaller village houses in the New Territories, with more roof area per dwelling unit, might generate up to half of the house’s annual energy needs — the relatively small rooftop area of high-rise multi-family residential towers may only benefit the top floor owners, who often own a portion of the corresponding roof.
Benefits of Rooftop Solar Collectors include:
- Free Power: Conversion of sunlight into “free” clean energy, after the cost of installing a system.
- Temperature: Covering existing rooftop areas and minimizing thermal gain to the structure below may result in a reduction urban “heat island effect” during steamy summers.
- Clean Air: Reduction of pollution associated with fossil fuel power generation.
- Income: Ability for individuals and companies to sell excess energy back into the grid.
- Savings: Reduction of monthly electricity bills from the existing two power companies that currently dominate Hong Kong, and an increase in self-sufficiency.
- Business Opportunities: Increase in business opportunities for local solar photovoltaic suppliers, contractors, and technicians.
Challenges of Rooftop Solar Collectors include:
- Costs: Upfront costs are often prohibitively expensive, but this is likely to decrease over time.
- Red Tape: Labyrinthine application processes involved with “applying” for the power company Feed-in-Tariff, not to mention myriad Government and Management Company approvals.
- Specialists: Need for specialist contractors and technicians; unlicensed contractors installing shoddy products could result in fire hazards and untold havoc.
- Maintenance: Running costs associated with battery replacement / maintenance.
- Building Regulations: Antiquated building regulations often still deem such installation as “illegal structures” and “unauthorized building works.”
- Wind Loads: Installations may be susceptible to high wind loads generated by seasonal typhoons.
- Lack of Support: Weak Government programs relative to incentivizing clean energy production; total lack of technical support relative to PV collectors.
- Waste Disposal: As collectors and batteries continue to become more efficient — not unlike computers — what happens to the older less-efficient equipment when they are replaced? Can these be donated, recycled, or upgraded?
some ideas TO CONSIDER:
- Could the Government provide additional subsidies and incentives to individuals and companies to install PV collectors on private rooftop areas?
- Could the energy affairs of Hong Kong be transferred from the currently overloaded Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) into a newly formed Energy Department (ED) that has a mandate for long-term energy production with a more holistic and sustainable focus? Could Hong Kong be 100% self-sustaining and sell excess energy into the Mainland China grid?
- Could an inter-departmental Government one-stop-shop be created to facilitate the application, sourcing, installation, approval, and technical support of solar PV installations throughout the territory?
- Could Hong Kong’s Building Department regulations be overhauled to “get with the program?” Could new building codes and guidance notes be created pertaining to rooftop PV collector installations?
- Could the Government require the mandatory use of PV collectors and Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) facades in all new construction? What if the curtain wall systems of our high-rise buildings were required to generate a significant percentage of a building’s energy requirements, based on its siting?
- Could a new business sector be created in Hong Kong around the widespread use of PV collectors, resulting in the creation of new jobs with transferable technical skills for the city’s many disenfranchised youth?
- Could floating PV arrays (solar farms) be provided on Hong Kong’s 17 reservoirs to regulate water temperature, reduce evaporation, suppress algae growth, all while generating power? Could these solar farms be extended to perform water purification activities to deliver better quality water to the consumers’ tap?
- Could the Government EcoPark be upgraded with specialized facilities for the recycling and/or disposal of PV collectors and batteries to minimize the export of such waste out of Hong Kong?
The solar photovoltaic market is exploding throughout the world, isn’t it time that Hong Kong caught up? Could Hong Kong become a leader, rather than a follower?
