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2 Hong Kong electricity outages in Tsing Yi in space of week caused by degradation of parts, CLP Power says

  • CLP has submitted two reports to the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department over the past week over the incidents, firm says
  • Company will learn from experience and implement practical measures to minimise the likelihood of power incidents, spokesman adds

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CLP engineering personnel at Cheung On Estate in Tsing Yi on January 7. Photo: Dickson Lee
Hong Kong electricity supplier CLP Power has admitted that deterioration in equipment parts caused two outages in Tsing Yi earlier this month, while emphasising they were independent incidents.
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A company spokesman on Saturday said CLP had submitted two reports to the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department over the past week detailing its findings on the causes of the two outages which occurred within a week.

Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan earlier expressed his “great disappointment” to the firm’s managing director, Joseph Law Ka-chun, over the incidents.

“CLP Power will learn from this experience and implement practical measures to minimise the likelihood of power incidents,” the spokesman said.

The company apologised to affected customers.

The first incident, involving a voltage dip at Nga Ying Chau Street substation on New Year’s Day, was found to have been caused by degradation of insulation material inside a faulty sealing end of a 132kV cable.

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The fault resulted in a short circuit, triggering an automatic protection system that caused a power outage.

Smoke billows from CLP’s Nga Ying Chau Street substation on January 1. Photo: Facebook/Look Chun Wai David
Smoke billows from CLP’s Nga Ying Chau Street substation on January 1. Photo: Facebook/Look Chun Wai David
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