Powering the Sustainable Rise of the Greater Bay Area

The Greater Bay Area is taking shape rapidly with the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Express Rail Link. These milestone infrastructure projects are the key to a new era of super-connectivity that promises exciting new business opportunities for the region.

Part of the Greater Bay Area vision is to empower the development of smart cities with advanced energy systems enabled by digital technologies. To help make that vision a reality and guide business customers towards a greener and smarter future, CLP formed a joint venture in Shenzhen in 2018 with Beijing TUS-Clean Energy, a company affiliated to China’s prestigious Tsinghua University.

“The Greater Bay Area is undoubtedly the world’s most dynamic economic region right now,” says Shijun Yi, General Manager of the joint venture, TUS-CLP Smart Energy Technology.

“With the high energy density of many of the cities in the region, there is large potential for the growth of technologies such as smart buildings and microgrids.”

The Greater Bay Area, which covers Hong Kong, Macao, and nine southern cities including Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan with a combined population of nearly 70 million, is home to global leaders in industries including electric vehicles and batteries.

The growing demand from these industries for renewable energy, distributed energy systems, and energy management technologies will support the goal of sustaining economic growth in the region while creating a greener environment.

TUS-CLP hopes to introduce digital energy technologies developed by CLP’s Innovation team to customers in Mainland China, Shijun says, as the joint venture explores opportunities in other parts of the country amid the ongoing reforms of the national energy industry.

Energy reforms in Mainland China include the deregulation of electricity sales to large users, enabling bigger companies to buy directly from energy generators and retailers. The Government is also creating spot markets for electricity in major provinces such as Guangdong and Zhejiang to increase price transparency, setting up exchanges for the trading of energy contracts, and opening up the market for incremental distribution networks for new operators in designated regions.

Reforms of the sector are increasing demand for energy management and analytics solutions, as companies seek to track their electricity consumption and predict future usage more accurately to secure more favourable pricing and lower costs, explains Shijun. The chartered engineer joined CLP in 2014, working in the Power Systems Business Group, Generation Business Group and Smart Energy – China Group, following a career in the power industry in the United Kingdom and Mainland China.

TUS-CLP is targeting opportunities to design and build integrated energy systems for industrial parks in China, Shijun says. According to him, the market offers excellent potential as park operators are switching to systems that combine the supply of electricity, heating, and air-conditioning services, and the joint venture has a powerful starting position to capture those opportunities because of the established track records and the global reach of shareholders.

TUS-Clean Energy’s parent company TUS-Holdings is one of the world’s largest developers and operators of industrial parks. It has business incubation centres, technology research and development facilities and science park properties in major Chinese cities and overseas markets including the United States, Russia, and Israel.

“The TUS Group has very diverse operations and industry-leading capabilities in many advanced technologies, and their rich industry connections are opening up good opportunities for us,” Shijun says.

CLP’s world-class operations and growing footprint in Mainland China’s energy industry, meanwhile, are a major benefit to the expansion of TUS-CLP’s operations, Shijun says.

“With more than 100 years of experience in the power industry, CLP is well regarded for its operational excellence and professionalism,” he says. “These are important foundations for the development of our joint venture.”

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