Tuen Mun hydropower set-up saves money for water treatment works
Tuen Mun plant first to use untreated water inflows to generate electricity for its own use
The city's first hydropower plant has generated energy equivalent to that used every year by about 57 Hongkongers since it was put into service in Tuen Mun in May, public utilities authorities say.
It has also saved the Water Supplies Department money through lower electricity bills and reduced carbon emissions.
All the electricity is produced by the flow of water from a reservoir into the Tuen Mun water treatment works and goes back into powering the works.
The Water Supplies Department believes the mutually beneficial operation of the two facilities makes the whole set-up among the first of its kind in the world.
The HK$20 million project was equipped with one water turbine generator for now, and a second generator was on the way, it said.
"We have started designing the second generator [based on the performance of the first one] and plan to complete the entire hydropower project by the end of 2015," chief electrical and mechanical engineer Leung Man-hon said.
When run at full capacity with both generators, the plant could meet 10 per cent of the total energy consumption of the works, resulting in lower electricity costs and reduced carbon dioxide emissions, the department said.