Castle Peak Power Station


The Castle Peak Power Station is the largest coal-fired power station in Hong Kong. It is situated in Tap Shek Kok, Tuen Mun District, on the north shore of Urmston Road. Its name came from the mountain Castle Peak nearby. The station consists of four 350 MW and four 677 MW generating units, with auxiliary facilities.
It was commissioned in 1982 with its newest generation unit installed in 1990. It is one of the three power stations that CLP operates in Hong Kong, totalling to 6,908 MW of installed capacity.
In 2007 Castle Peak burned 9 million tonnes of coal of which, according to CLP, 4.6 million tonnes was low-sulphur coal from Indonesia. The power station has been undertaking a range of programmes to improve emission performance, including refurbishing burners to reduce emission of nitrogen oxide, SCR and BOFA has been installed, and Flue-gas desulfurization for sulphur removal. This power station is a major contributor to non-motor-traffic pollution in Hong Kong.

History

The Castle Peak "A" Power Station was officially opened by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on 28 September 1982. The site was designed with provision for construction of a "B" power station at a later date.
It was decided to go ahead with the Castle Peak "B" Power Station in 1981. This was built by the Castle Peak Power Company, a joint venture between CLP and Esso. The first two units were inaugurated by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 22 October 1986.

Ownership

The station is owned by Castle Peak Power Company which also owns the Black Point Power Station and the Penny's Bay Power Station. Initially CLP held a 40% stake in Capco. The total power generation capacity of the three power station amounts to 6,908 MW.
On 19 November 2013, CLP Group and China Southern Power Grid Company announced its acquisition of Exxon's 60% stake in Capco for HK$24 billion. After the transaction, CLP holds a 70% stake while CSG holds the remaining 30% stake. The transaction was said to help CLP lower its emission to meet its target in 2020, by importing more clean energy through CSG's grid. The transaction was expected to be completed in 2014. After the transaction, Exxon would exit the power generation business in Hong Kong, its only such investment worldwide.

Future plans

CLP is building a gas-fired generation unit at the nearby Black Point Power Station. After this is commissioned around 2023, two coal-fired generating units at Castle Peak are planned to be decommissioned.