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The winds of change (David Watkins,
(C) SCMPost Magazine There's a typhoon blowing through Lamma Island at the moment. Well, more of a breeze really. At the very least, plenty of hot air; the island looks set to become the recipient of a wind turbine, courtesy of Hongkong Electric, in 2006. You'd think this would be a popular move, given the island's penchant for green causes, organic food, dogs, tax exiles, reggae and bicycles. Having won a three-year arm wrestle with the government to preserve the sewage-scented shoreline of Yung Shue Wan from reclamation and forcing a backtrack earlier this year over proposals for an emergency ring-road, wouldn't these eco warriors be up for a spot of turbine intervention? Apparently not. 'With all the uninhabited islands in Hong Kong, can they not f*** off somewhere else and build them?' raged one islander after the news wafted over the island's web forum in December. 'You get used to the three chimneys of the power station and, quite perversely I know, the power station looks quite a good at night ...' 'That is totally outrageous,' stormed another. 'In the context of HK's small space and natural beauty, wind power doesn't seem the right way to go.' Fast forward to this summer and the debate is still raging. 'Shouldn't we get a discount on our bills anyway?' came a posting in June. 'With the power station right on our doorstep, they don't need to transport our electricity as far as Hong Kong Island. With the price of oil going up, we must be subsidising the transport costs of all those rich people on the Peak.' The gripes of Lamma residents are met with equal parts sympathy and derision. In some quarters, they're valiant defenders of Hong Kong's wild frontier; but this distinctly un-green reaction could be misconstrued as the stuff of vegetarians wearing leather flip-flops. The subject of renewable energy has created more fumes than the three chimneys of Lamma Power Station combined. In December, Friends of the Earth lobbied the government to invest $1.1 billion in 46 turbines that would, nevertheless, generate only 1 per cent of the city's power requirements. Citing Lamma as a suitably windy location, the construction of a farm would mean razing an entire hillside, not to mention the necessary cable work and construction of access roads. Then there'd be the sight and sound pollution provided by the whirring blades. Add that to the gruesome sight of the power station, and you have something far worse than Homer Simpson's hometown of Springfield. In reality, plans exist for only one turbine; but that idea has, ahem, few fans. For good reason, too. According to Hongkong Electric's Project Profile, 'the proposed wind turbine will be connected to the existing power grid for supplying of 'green' energy to Lamma residents'. This, of course, sounds wonderful - except for the fact the 45-metre-high turbine has the capacity to provide power only for a few air-conditioners, making it a negligible step in the pursuit of renewable energy. It is this, more than anything, that has put islanders in a spin. 'They're trying to cultivate a very green image,' says one resident, who is so suspicious he insists on being referred to by his pen name, Lamma-Gung. 'I'm a bit reluctant to have my name in a newspaper,' he explains. 'Once you're in a newspaper you become searchable, worldwide, and you can look for anybody, anywhere. It could be anyone from 30 years ago looking for you.' Hmmm. 'Hongkong Electric has been doing a lot of good deeds on Lamma, they've been promoting it,' continues Gung. 'They planted more than 66,000 trees here and are supporting a lot of local charities. Now people have got used to the power station - it's kind of like a landmark for Lamma. But still, there is so much going on over there that we know nothing about.' He cites Hongkong Electric's 22-hectare land reclamation plan for a $5 billion power-station extension as an example. (continue on top of 2nd column) |
'Lammaites' have carried a chip on their shoulder since the power station first cast its trident-like shadow over the island more than 20 years ago - and have been watching Hongkong Electric with hawk-like diligence ever since. But this hasn't failed to deter plans to add another two smokestacks to the Lamma skyline, leaving some residents to regard the lone turbine as another twist in a conspiracy to turn the island into an electrical guinea pig. The windmill has been earmarked to appear on the highest hill of north Lamma, above Tai Ling village. Its propellers will span 52 metres in diameter.'They're selling it as a research project, a demonstration, to see how it goes,' says Gung. 'You need a lot of wind turbines for it to be worthwhile. It's not going to affect our bills - they're still astronomically high in summertime. We're wondering why we have to pay as much as everyone else seeing as we have the power station on the island. But, in the meantime, we're trying to find a name for it. Someone came up with 'The Lamma-giser', after the batteries.' Dr David Green, a Hong Kong-based independent environmental consultant, says: 'There's no serious power generation coming from it. On a positive note, [Hongkong Electric] is looking thoroughly at the impact in terms of visual, noise and environment. It all seems to be well covered. But there are other things that could be useful in Hong Kong - no one seems to have looked into installing wave power, for example. There are places, between the smaller islands where significant power could be generated for some of the more remote locations.' Indeed - fill the entire Kowloon Peninsula with wind turbines and you'd supply only 4 per cent of the city's power needs. Both Hong Kong's power companies know a bandwagon when they see one. Last month, CLP Power unveiled a $20 million project to identify a site with enough wind to power a similar turbine to the one proposed for Lamma, also capable of generating 600kW of electricity. In other words, a fairly meaningless cosmetic exercise to divert attention from the fact that CLP's sulphur-dioxide emissions almost doubled last year, while nitrogen-dioxide output surged 60 per cent. With Hongkong Electric and CLP announcing whopping annual profits of $6 billion and $7.68 billion respectively, surely more could be done. 'Other countries build entire wind farms in two years,' says Chu Hong-keung, environmental affairs manager at Friends of the Earth, referring to the fact the global wind industry enjoys close to 30 per cent growth rates annually. 'It's a stunt - in three years, Hong Kong will manage to build only two wind turbines of miniscule capacity. Our environment can't wait that long.' Greenpeace China energy campaigner Gloria Chang Wan-ki says, 'It's really insufficient, it's insignificant. Both power companies are making several billion dollars every year - they should have a political commitment to invest more in renewable energy. They should have an interconnected power grid to mutually benefit society as a whole, instead of separate grids for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon side.' She suggests they look to Guangdong for wind power - a place with plenty of space to build the turbines - especially as Li Junfeng, the Secretary-General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, advised the government and local industry to do so in June. 'They should be investing in Guangdong wind power - the resources and infrastructure is there,' says Chang. At the very least, it would help reduce the angry emissions coming from Lamma Island. |