CLP TO PUT FOCUS ON NUCLEAR POWER
Move is aimed at helping HK achieve climate goals as utility reports 17.6% increase in interim profit
CLP Holdings, which runs the larger of Hong Kong’s two power utilities, has said it will put more emphasis on nuclear energy to meet the city’s climate action goals as it reported first-half profit growth in line with expectations.
Earnings rose by 17.6 per cent to HK$5.95 billion for the first half from HK$5.06 billion a year earlier, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange yesterday. Revenue grew by 1.8 per cent to HK$44.08 billion, it added.
To reach the city’s goal of netzero electricity generation by 2050, the government has set a target to increase the share of zero-carbon energy in the energy mix to 60 to 70 per cent by 2035.
“Hong Kong’s zero-carbon resources are very limited, so [CLP’s] goal is to achieve that by regional collaboration and bring zero-carbon energy to Hong Kong,” CEO Chiang Tung-keung said at the company’s interim results briefing.
“Zero-carbon energy refers to nuclear power and renewable energy. So we will identify opportunities and bring them to Hong Kong.”
Nuclear power would account for a bigger share, he said, because it was more stable than renewable sources such as solar energy.
CLP, which has significant operations in Australia and India, said improved earnings at subsidiary EnergyAustralia more than offset lower generation volumes at its two nuclear power plants on the mainland because of planned outages, according to its interim filing.
The firm reported HK$611 million in earnings from its Australia business in the first half, reversing from a HK$590 million loss a year ago. This takes into account the unrealised fair-value gain for EnergyAustralia’s forward energy contracts.
Margins for EnergyAustralia’s energy business improved, thanks to higher realised prices for electricity from its power stations.
CLP’s profits from its mainland business fell by 28 per cent to HK$988 million. The firm attributed this to lower nuclear earnings because of the planned outages at the Daya Bay and Yangjiang power stations.
On the mainland, CLP reported slightly higher output from its existing renewable energy portfolio in the first half, as the utilities firm strengthened its position in the renewable market and moved forward with a stream of new wind and solar projects.
Work on 300 megawatts (MW) of new projects also started, bringing the company’s total capacity of wind and solar energy projects under construction in the country to 450MW, according to the filing.
“In the first half of 2024, the CLP team worked diligently to meet the growing energy needs across our markets, while actively pursuing our decarbonisation opportunities,” chairman Michael Kadoorie said in the filing.
“Our focus on investing in low-carbon energy solutions reflects our intent to both proactively mitigate climate change as well as capture the significant opportunities presented by a net-zero future.”
In Hong Kong, CLP Power saw electricity sales increase by 2.6 per cent to 16,743 gigawatt-hours in the first half from the year before.
The growth in demand was driven by the gathering pace of Hong Kong’s economic recovery, combined with higher temperatures, which boosted consumption in most sectors, it said in the filing.
As international fuel prices continued to soften, CLP Power reduced its average net tariff by 1.6 per cent during the first half. The firm maintained a strategy of prudent cost controls and diversified fuel sources to try to keep energy costs for customers at a reasonable level.