Tai O stilt homes to help prop up Hong Kong’s power grid with solar panel systems
Houses in Lantau fishing village get hi-tech upgrade with rooftop photovoltaic systems that can both supply users and feed excess energy back into public grid
Discount the growing throngs of tourists and worsening traffic and not too much has changed for Tai O’s indigenous townsfolk. Shrimp, fish and squid are still laid out to air dry under the sun as they have for generations.
But residents from one of the west Lantau town’s fishing villages are beginning to discover an additional use for sunshine through a recently launched renewable energy project developed with the help of green group WWF-Hong Kong.
Small-scale and lightweight photovoltaic systems, each with 20 to 25 solar panels, were installed on the rooftops of three stilt houses last summer, each with a two-kilowatt capacity capable of generating 2,000 to 2,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.
Over a monitoring period in November and December, each system churned out about 125kWh of electricity per month.
That’s enough to meet about one third of the electricity needs per day of the average four-person household in Hong Kong, said Olivia To Pui-wai, WWF’s public engagement officer for climate.
“The success proves there is great potential feasibility and increasing public demand for implementing rooftop solar power in Hong Kong,” To said. The power produced by each system could potentially reduce bills by about HK$2,100 to HK$2,500 a year.