Hong Kong's largest power company, CLP Holdings Ltd., is considering a plan to establish the city's first offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the waters east of the Soko Islands, off southern Lantau, that will enable it to tap more gas from international markets.
This will come nearly a decade after it shelved a land-based version of the project in the southern Sokos despite government approval. A 25-year gas deal with the mainland was signed instead.
An offshore LNG terminal, a large floating vessel, would mean greater energy security because it would allow the city to receive gas from anywhere in the world.
The terminal would have the capability to store and turn a liquid form of natural gas back into its original state, and then transport it via an underwater pipeline to an onshore power plant.
In 2008, the company received approval to build an onshore LNG terminal on South Soko Island, part of the Soko Islands cluster, but later scrapped the idea when China pledged to continue its supply of natural gas to the city for two more decades.
The project will help it meet new requirements for half of the city’s electricity needs to come from natural gas after 2020.
The company will submit its plan for the environmental impact assessment soon. CLP senior director (commercial) Edward Chiu On-tin said the cost has not been determined, as it would vary with location and design.
CLP will hand related documents to the EPD in the short term, and start EIA, but up to this moment, CLP cannot provide details such as construction cost and when to start operation.