Data centres, EVs bring growth and climate challenges to Hong Kong utility CLP, CEO says

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For the first nine months of 2024, electricity sales at CLP Power Hong Kong grew 2.5 per cent from a year earlier

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CLP Holdings CEO Chiang Tung-keung. Photo: Fan Chen

Eric Ng

Published: 8:30am, 6 Nov 2024Updated: 11:31am, 6 Nov 2024

The CEO of Hong Kong’s largest power supplier said electricity sales have risen because of digitalisation and electrification in the city’s economy, which has brought growth opportunities and decarbonisation challenges.

“Electrification is a global trend for achieving decarbonisation in some sectors like transportation and home cooking, which has resulted in greater demand for electricity,” CLP Holdings’ Chiang Tung-keung said in an interview. “But this comes with challenges from government regulations, investors and banks, which are imposing decarbonisation demands on us.”

For the first nine months of 2024, electricity sales at subsidiary CLP Power Hong Kong – the sole supplier to Kowloon, the New Territories and Lantau Island – grew 2.5 per cent from a year earlier.

Chiang attributed half of the growth to record high temperatures that kept air conditioners running and the other half to economic growth, infrastructure construction, digitalisation and electrification.

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Data centres, EVs bring growth and climate challenges to Hong Kong utility CLP, says CEO

He said data centres in the city were one of the biggest sources for growth, accounting for 5.6 per cent of CLP’s total Hong Kong sales in the first nine months of the year, up from 3.9 per cent for the same period five years ago.

“Digitalisation of business operations and the deployment of artificial intelligence have increased demand for cloud computing and data storage,” he said. “The proliferation of electric cars is also driving up power demand, but the absolute amount is smaller as the majority of Hong Kong’s vehicles are still fossil fuel-powered.”