ENG-1999 — Page 295

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

The associated transmission and distribution systems are wholly owned by CLP Power. Its transmission system operates at 400kV, 132kV and 66kV, and distribution is effected mainly at 33kV, 11kV and 380 volts.

The CLP Power and HEC transmission systems are interconnected by a cross- harbour link. This provides emergency back-up and achieves cost savings to consumers through economic energy transfers between the two systems and a reduction in the amount of generating capacity that needs to be kept as spinning reserve against the tripping of other units. The interconnection, commissioned in 1981, currently has an installed capacity of 720 MVA.

CLP Power's system is also interconnected with that of the Guangdong Electric Power Holding Company (formerly named the Guangdong General Power Company) in the Mainland and electricity is exported to Guangdong Province. Such sales are made from existing reserve generating capacity and are governed by an agreement with the Government, signed in March 1992, under which CLP Power's consumers receive priority of supply and 80 per cent of the profit from the sales.

In 1985, the Hong Kong Nuclear Investment Company (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the newly formed CLP Holdings Limited) and the Guangdong Nuclear Investment Company (wholly owned by the Chinese Ministry of Nuclear Industry) established the Guangdong Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company, to build and operate a nuclear power station at Daya Bay in Guangdong. This comprises two 985MW pressurised water reactors which went into commercial operation in February and May 1994, respectively. CLP Power undertook to buy about 70 per cent of the station's power to meet part of the longer-term demand for electricity in its supply

area.

Through its affiliated company, the Hong Kong Pumped Storage Development Company Limited, CLP Power has bought the right to use 50 per cent of the capacity of the Guangzhou Pumped Storage Power Station, at Conghua. The total installed capacity of the current phase is 1 200 MW. Off-peak electricity from the CAPCO system and Guangdong Nuclear Power Station is used to pump water from a lower reservoir to an upper one. The water is allowed to flow downhill during the day to generate electricity to meet Hong Kong's peak demand.

The Government and the two power companies continued to discuss details of their Demand Side Management (DSM) Resource Plans. The Resource Plans set out DSM Programmes designed to encourage reduction in electricity consumptions and lower the demand for electricity in the long term. A set of revised programmes was agreed at the end of 1999 taking into account the views of the Legislative Council Panel on Economic Services. Preparation is in hand with a target implementation date in mid-2000.

The Electricity Ordinance, with its subsidiary regulations, is the main enabling legislation on electricity safety. It sets out the legal framework encompassing all the areas within which the concerned legislation shall apply, including the registration of electrical workers and contractors, the safety standards and requirements for electricity supply, electricity lines, electrical wiring and products.

Since 1990, the regulations concerning registration of electrical workers and contractors, the safety of electrical wiring, and the supply of safe household electrical

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