21 August 2018, Macau

CEM held a media briefing session at CEM Building this morning, and gave an introduction on CEM’s works and measures for improving disaster resilience and power stability. Meanwhile, the media was also invited to visit the Control Centre and customer substation.

During the introduction, Billy Chan, Senior Manager of CEM Transmission and Distribution Department, said that GDSE has always maintained close liaison with CEM. As ensuring reliable and stable power supply is a top priority, CEM has been actively optimizing the power network and expanding local infrastructure. In the face of the long-standing flooding problem in Macau, CEM has discussed with GDSE about how to improve the flood-resistant capacity of power facilities and has devised a number of measures to enhance the capacity at low-lying areas.

CEM has continued to strengthen the construction of transmission and distribution network, including a number of large-scale projects such as the 110kV Cotai Hospital Substation, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Substation, Barra Substation, Macau Power Station Substation, the third 220kV Pac On Substation, the 220kV connection for Lotus Substation, Canal dos Patos Substation and Pac On Substation,  as well as the third 7km-long 220kV interconnection with Guangdong Power Grid.

Another important infrastructure project that will help ensure reliable power supply is the new gas turbine generator units planned to be built in Coloane Power Station. In view of the growing demand for electricity in Macau, CEM has made suggestion to the government to replace some of the old power generation units with eco-friendly and efficient gas turbine generator units, in a bid to solve the problem of severe aging of the existing generation units and thus enhance local power supply capacity. After the preparatory work for the project gained approval from the government last year, CEM launched an international tendering process in December 2017 and stopped accepting tenders in April 2018. Tender evaluation is currently being conducted. When the new gas turbine generator units are put into operation, local power generation will take up an average of 30% of the total power consumption, which can be increased to 50% in an emergency. In addition, in order to enhance electrical engineers’ awareness of operation and maintenance techniques for medium-voltage equipment, CEM has organized workshops for personnel who are responsible for the construction, operation, handling and maintenance of medium-voltage power distribution equipment. The workshops were hosted by CEM professionals, who passed their relevant knowledge and demonstrated operations.

Apart from the new infrastructure projects, CEM has successively implemented flood prevention measures in low-lying areas, which is expected to improve Macau’s disaster resilience. Taking in the experience from previous typhoons, CEM has worked out solutions with the GDSE and mapped out flood prevention measures and solutions to reduce the risk of power equipment being exposed to flood waters and impact on the public. The measures include optimizing the medium-voltage network and raising power equipment, as well as installing flood barriers, strengthening the sealing of cable inlets, installing flooding alarm systems and sump pumps in customer substations. Regarding the long-term measures, CEM has revised the standards for electrical facilities in buildings in terms of flood protection, which in turn can improve the flood-resistant capacity of power facilities in new buildings at low-lying areas. CEM is also planning to relocate some of the customer substations near Inner Harbour to a higher level. This measure does not only address the flooding problems in the long run, but also increase the power network capacity for the older part of the city.

After the briefing session, CEM invited the media to visit the Control Centre of System Dispatch Centre to learn about the operation of flooding alarm system. Then, the group was invited to inspect customer substation that have been equipped with flood control facilities.