Macau, 4 February 2015

In response to recent media enquiries on the black smoke appearance at the Coloane A Power Station (CCA), CEM took the lead to invite the media to visit the Coloane Power Station today and provided detailed information on the root cause and relevant solutions to address the issue.

During the visit, to give an overview of the smoke causes, Garrick Yuen, CEM Generation Department Coloane A Power Station Senior Engineer, introduced the generators installed in CCA and relevant combustion process undergoing during power generation. Garrick explained that during the combustion process, combustible has to be gasified and air-fuel mix will be above ignition temperature, unavoidably there is exhaust emissions emitted. Especially when the engine is at start up stage, brown or black smoke will be emitted for around 15 minutes. Also cold engine causes poor combustion leading to white smoke emitted. The occurrence and duration can be largely decreased with certain technology and equipment. CEM has prepared the proposal, ready to be submitted to the Government for approval.

Over the years, CEM has been investing significantly on environmental protection facilities, including installations of Selective Catalytic Reduction System, waste water treatment plants, noise control facilities and air quality surveillance network. CEM was the first electricity company in Macau and Hong Kong to obtain the ISO14064 Greenhouse Gases Management System Certification.

CEM emphasizes that under normal running conditions, the emissions level of the main pollutants, namely nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulates (TSP) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are all within the local and European standards.

In fact, CEM has been promoting throughout the years that using natural gas for power generation is the cleanest fossil fuel energy for power generation. Previously CEM has proposed to the Macau SAR Government to replace the old generation units by natural gas generation units. Currently there are total eight generation units using heavy fuel oil at CCA. The oldest units were built in 1978. Most of them are over 20 years old with relevantly low efficiency. The age of the equipment in CCA is due for commercial operation replacement. CEM will continue the discussion with the Macau SAR Government to seek for the best solution to provide clean, cost effective, stable and reliable power supply to Macau.