HK Electric plans ahead for extreme weather
One of Hong Kong’s two electricity providers on Tuesday said its main power plant on Lamma Island would be able to withstand record storms, after a string of measures were introduced to mitigate the risk of extreme weather events. Hongkong Electric, which serves more than half a million customers, hopes to shield its critical infrastructure from weather damage until 2100, when the city’s water levels are expected to rise by half a metre. Under revised design guidelines, two generator units under construction at the Lamma plant will sit at seven metres above principal datum. That’s well above the 5.45-metre water level recorded during Super Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018. Principal datum, or PD, is a unit used by the government to measure heights and levels on land. According to the Lands Department, the SAR’s mean sea level is about 1.3 metres above PD. The company is also making its substations more resilient to extreme weather. They include those within 100 metres of the northern Hong Kong Island coastline, and others sitting at a PD of 4.854 metres or below. Apart from installing physical barriers such as flood walls, there’ll also be flood warning systems and sump pumps. The works are expected to be completed by 2026. General manager Chow Fo-shing said staff would also receive training to deal with emergencies.  “During typhoons, when we can no longer operate ferries, staff can no longer reach the Lamma power plant, so we will deploy extra manpower to be stationed on site whenever a storm is approaching,” he said.  But fellow general manager Tony Yeung insisted most of the company’s power network was built underground, and therefore shielded from adverse weather.