Hong Kong Castle Peak Power Company Limited (CAPCO) Thursday celebrated the completion of its Emissions Control (EC) project ahead of schedule, Hong Kong's Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau attended the ceremony and said that Hong Kong is expected to achieve its emission control target for 2010.

In 2002, the Hong Kong government and the Guangdong provincial government agreed to reduce the regional emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) and Respirable Suspended Particulates (RSP) by 40 percent, 20 percent and 55 percent respectively by 2010, using 1997 as the base year.

Yau said that the completion of CAPCO's EC project marked not only the milestone, but also the achievement for CLP and for Hong Kong community in emission reduction field.

"2010 is the target year for reduction of major pollutants to reduce by the range of 20-55 percent, we are still checking the data for last year's emission control, but we are confident that we will achieve the 2010 target," said Yau.

Hong Kong utility CLP Holdings Ltd's Managing Director Richard Lancaster said that "We now use a balanced mix of gas and nuclear power in addition to coal, and emissions from power generation have been reduced by a staggering 82 percent. Underpinning this accomplishment has been the adoption of clean fuels such as natural gas and nuclear power supplied from the Chinese mainland and ultra low sulphur coal from Indonesia."

The EC project includes retrofitting each of the four larger generating units with three types of emissions control equipment reducing certain emissions substantially.

With the launch of EC the project, CAPCO recorded a material reduction of about 60 percent across all three emissions, and making it one of the cleanest coal-fired power stations in the world.

CAPCO is a joint venture between CLP and ExxonMobil Energy Limited from the U.S., and CLP is one of Hong Kong's two major power companies. It also has stakes in energy businesses in China, India and Southeast Asia.

The company has been expanding overseas because of limited opportunities for growth in its home market.