Supply Reliability & Power Quality

CLP tackles the challenge of operating our systems efficiently by making continual improvements to asset management processes, operational procedures and introducing international best practices across all parts of the electricity supply chain.

Our network is connected to the power grid of neighbouring Guangdong Province and to The Hongkong Electric across Victoria Harbour. These interconnections enable mutual support during emergencies and help reduce each party’s electricity reserve requirements.

CLP's emergency crews are available 24 hours a day to respond to all types of emergencies. In case of supply interruptions, their mission is to restore electricity supply in affected areas as early as practicable.

CLP places a great deal of emphasis on being always ready to deal with sudden emergencies. Regular drills are conducted across business units to review systems efficiency, as well as communications and co-ordination effectiveness.

These emergency drills cover a wide spectrum of scenarios such as typhoon, rainstorm, chemical spillage, confined space incident and fire, etc.

As Hong Kong has a variety of trees, many of which are fast-growing. Power failures may occur when vegetation comes into contact with overhead lines. Moreover, under windy weather, tree branches may be carried onto overhead lines and affect the reliability of the power supply.

CLP adopted vegetation management techniques and set up a task force in 2001. With professional and scientific vegetation management techniques, CLP has managed to protect the overhead lines and conserve the trees at the same time, putting into practice the philosophy of coexistence of overhead lines and nature.

The Live Line Work (LLW) is a well developed technique in the electricity industry. CLP makes use of this technique to minimise both planned and unplanned supply interruption time. The practice of LLW in our network not only enhances supply continuity, but also enables more flexible maintenance and repair schedules which help improve customer satisfaction and work efficiency.

Since introducing 11kV LLW technique in its overhead line network in 1999, CLP currently has five 11kV LLW teams with over 20 qualified live line workers.

To ensure good power quality, CLP safeguards the power systems with sophisticated equipment and best practices in operations. With overhead lines forming a major part of CLP's transmission and distribution network in rural area, transient voltage dips may be caused by adverse weather conditions such as typhoons and lightning strikes. CLP has made substantial efforts to reduce the susceptibility of overhead lines through vegetation management and installation of lightning protection. In addition, CLP also offers its customers a wide range of customer-specific power quality services to help their sensitive equipment ride through voltage fluctuations.