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PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
87 km of double-circuited overhead line encircling the New Territories, 14 km of cables and six extra high-voltage substations. The first stage of the network will be completed in 1981. Power from the new Lamma Island station will be transmitted via underground and submarine cables at 275 kV to Hong Kong Island.
The two major electricity companies are the primary users of fuel oil, accounting for more than 50 per cent of Hong Kong's total import of petroleum products in 1980. To reduce the repercussions of supply restrictions, the government took measures at the end of the year to store a temporary reserve of fuel oil, for electricity generation, in a very large tanker moored in local waters. The first phase of the scheme came into effect on December 31, with the arrival of the tanker Straits Dahlia, with a cargo of 74,000 tonnes, and further purchases of oil were planned to bring the reserves up to 200,000 tonnes stored in this way. The tanker was moored west of the Ninepin Group of islands and strict precautions against pollution were taken. It is anticipated that this form of storage will be required until late 1981, when land tanks being constructed at the new power stations on Lamma Island and at Tap Shek Kok will be available for long-term storage.
The installed capacity of the Cheung Chau Electric Company is 8 MW.
Gas
The Hong Kong and China Gas Company supplies Towngas to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories.
Supply is available throughout the urban areas - including Aberdeen, Ap Lei Chau, Repulse Bay and Stanley (on Hong Kong Island) and also in the industrial towns of Kwun Tong, Sha Tin, Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan and neighbouring Tsing Yi Island in the New Territories.
Towngas production is centred at Ma Tau Kok in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island is supplied by submarine gas mains across the harbour.
The gas is produced in six cyclic naphtha reforming plants, with a total installed capacity of 934,454 cubic metres per day. Two units of naphtha plant are currently under construc- tion and, when commissioned early in 1981, will add a total of 679,604 cubic metres per day to the installed capacity of the station. A further two units of the same capacity have been ordered and are scheduled to be commissioned early in 1982, at which time the total installed capacity will become 2,293,662 cubic metres per day.
Towngas is distributed at a heat value of 17.27 MJ/m3 and a specific gravity of approxi- mately 0.56. Gas is sold on a thermal basis (one therm=105.5 megajoules). Towngas sales in 1980 amounted to 33.4 million therms (3.5 million gigajoules) compared with 28.6 million therms (3 million gigajoules) in 1979.