Macao, 3 October 2011

While the mindset on power supply of the society is transforming with demand for enhanced supply reliability and rigorous environmental protection measures, Smart Grid has become a hot topic among the global major energy and utilities companies in recent years.

Given the term “Smart”, the definition and scope of Smart Grid are rather broad and ambiguous. The Smart Grid is generally seen as the ultimate solution to enhance power supply reliability, empower customers’ energy decision, optimize capital and operational efficiency, reduce emissions and improve social productivity and economic growth. It covers areas of customer demand management, renewable energy, electric vehicle, communication infrastructure and workforce efficiency. Companies tailor their own definitions and scopes according to their particular requirements and business environment when deploying the new technology.

To cope with the MSAR government’s initiative to develop Macao as one of the world’s leading and most dynamic cities in terms of entertainment and tourism and to further enhance the power supply reliability and customer services levels, CEM has been observing the development of Smart Grid few years ago. An American-based consultancy firm Quanta Services was hired to undertake a Smart Grid roadmap study this year in order to define the roadmap for guiding the implementation in Macao.

On 28 September, CEM held an internal workshop for around 70 staff to introduce the defined Smart Grid objectives of the Company. By studying a number of international practices and the potential impact on the power grid brought by smart meters, electric vehicles, automated control systems and communication technologies, attendants exchanged their views on the potential applications and opportunities by implementing the Smart Grid technology in Macao.

During the kick-off speech, CEM Executive Director Bernie Leong stated that in order to achieve the company vision “to be seen as one of the best energy suppliers in Asia”, CEM must always look for the best solution for the customers and community. It is believed that the Smart Grid will provide a platform for CEM to further enhance the supply reliability and customer service quality. CEM should take the lead to explore and deploy the new technology.