Minister makes renewable energy appeal to public

The environment minister has urged residents interested in joining the city’s renewable energy programme to do so as soon as possible, a day after the government announced it would cut feed-in tariff rates for those taking part in the scheme.

Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing made the appeal yesterday after authorities said they would reduce the buy-back rate for those selling renewable energy to the city’s two power companies under the government’s feed-in tariff programme.

“We will review the rates yearly and adjust them when appropriate to maintain the scheme’s attractiveness and 10-year payback period,” Wong told a radio programme. “We aim to encourage people interested in joining to do so as soon as possible. The earlier they join, the more benefits they enjoy.”

Starting yesterday, those selling renewable energy can earn between HK$2.50 and HK$4 per kilowatt-hour. Previously, the rate was between HK$3 and HK$5.

The government on Tuesday said it reached the decision following discussions with CLP and HK Electric “in view of the significant reduction in the costs of developing distributed renewable energy systems in recent years”. Wong urged those interested in selling renewable energy to install solar panels soon, saying the feed-in tariff rates would only go further down in future due to global trends.

He said the reduction followed similar practices in other places, such as South Korea and Australia, adding that rates in some regions were lower than residential electricity tariffs.

The city’s two power companies received more than 20,000 applications from households asking to connect their private renewable energy systems to the power grid between 2018 and the first quarter of 2022, of which over 18,000 were approved.

There were only 200 private clean energy systems before the feed-in tariff scheme was first introduced 10 years ago.

According to government estimates, private renewable energy systems can generate a 300 million kilowatt-hours of electricity yearly, which is enough power for about 90,000 families or all households in Central and Western district. Local environmental groups and lawmakers have criticised the new rates, describing them as a backward step in incentivising families to switch to renewable energy.

“The feed-in tariff is an important measure for developing renewable energy,” said Tom Ng Hon-lam, a campaigner at Greenpeace. “Lowering the repurchase may slow Hong Kong’s progress towards carbon neutrality.”

Although the buy-back accounted for about 0.6 per cent of the city’s electricity consumption in 2021, Ng noted it was the main source of solar power generated in Hong Kong.

Lawmaker Elizabeth Quat said that even though the government’s decision was understandable due to the shorter payback period and a drop in the cost of installing solar panels, the cuts would reduce the attractiveness of the tariff scheme.

“The government should ensure that the development of renewable energy is not hindered,” Quat said.

“It is hoped that the government will continue to identify and introduce policies to encourage more sites to install renewable energy systems and further increase the proportion of renewable energy in Hong Kong’s power generation.”

In response, the CLP Group said it would continue to buy back electricity generated from renewable energy. at a rate “higher than the prevailing tariffs”.

The company said that among the 19,600 applications it received, most came from village houses.

The feed-in tariff is an important measure for developing renewable energy

TOM NG, GREENPEACE