Article published on SCMP, 26 February 2021

In the 2021-2022 Budget, the Hong Kong Government announced to reserve $1 billion for installing renewable energy systems. Following the Chief Executive’s announcement on Hong Kong striving to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050, the city released plans to import zero carbon electricity and hike up local renewable energy production. Nevertheless, talks on managing increased renewable energy in the fuel mix are often neglected.

To attain the carbon neutrality targets, Hong Kong and Mainland China have to ramp up zero carbon energy in their supply portfolios, with a significant portion being renewable energy. Switching from fossil to renewable energy introduces the problem of intermittency and poses questions on supply reliability. Generation capacities of solar and wind energy depend on weather conditions, which exhibit varying diurnal and seasonal patterns. Energy supply needs to be accurately matched with energy demand at every instant to ensure stable supply. To cope with increasing share of renewable energy in the fuel mix, demand side management and energy storage technology are integral. Demand side management means encouraging customers to use energy during off-peak hours. Energy storage refers to saving up excess energy produced for use at later times.

Is Mainland China ready for the renewable energy transition? From my experience speaking with researchers in top universities in Beijing, demand side management can be easily achieved top-down policies to mandate customers’ behavioural change in energy consumption. For example, there can be a law requiring a group of citizens to cook dinner after 9pm to avoid peak energy demand during normal dinner hours of 6-8pm. While for Hong Kong, the public is generally resistant to top-down policies. Demand management has to be achieved via alternative means, such as providing financial incentives through changing the electricity tariff structure. This has to be negotiated with the two utilities.

Decarbonisation is not merely an environmental ambition, perhaps more importantly, it is a political statement of entering the global race of green technologies to reap most economic benefits. Energy storage technology is the key to balancing demand and supply for renewable energy sources. Different countries are competing to be the pioneer in this field. While Beijing prides its technology hub Zhongguancun Science Park as China’s Silicon Valley, Hong Kong is lagging behind in scientific research on green technologies. The Hong Kong Government should ramp up fiscal and human resources support on green energy research to maintain the city’s competitive in the low-carbon future.

Writer’s Biography
Natalie Chung is an appointed youth member at the Council for Sustainable Development under the Hong Kong Government. She is pursuing MPhil at University of Oxford as the Esther Yewpick Lee Millennium Scholar, specialized in environmental policy and climate change. She previously worked at the World Bank and the United Nations.