Macau, 27 June 2019

Macau has entered typhoon season. According to the prediction of Macau Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG), about four to six tropical cyclones will enter within 800 kilometers of Macau this year, which may have a chance reaching strong typhoon level. Under the influence of global warming, extreme weather has become more frequent. Macau has hoisted typhoon signal No. 10 for two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018. In response to the impact of extreme weather, Companhia de Electricidade de Macau - CEM, S.A. (CEM) specially invited Macau media to attend the “Be well prepared for typhoon season” press conference to share CEM’s improvement works for typhoon, measures on power suspension and restoration, as well as mechanisms and channels for publishing related messages. In addition, Cartography and Cadaster Bureau also introduced “GeoGuide for emergency” ver. 2.0 mobile mapping App.

The press conference was held in the morning of 27 June at CEM Building. The representatives attending the conference included Johnson Cheong, Principal Consultant Senior Technician of the Office for the Development of the Energy Sector (GDSE); Johan Lei, Consultant Senior Technician of Cartography and Cadaster Bureau (DSCC); Cecilia Nip, Director of CEM Regulatory Affairs and Corporate Communications Office, Simon Young, Deputy Director of Transmission and Distribution Department, and Gabriel Chan, Engineer of Cables & Underground Facilities Unit in Transmission and Distribution Department.

Gabriel Chan, CEM Engineer, stated that learning from the experiences from strong typhoons “Hato” and “Mangkhut” in the past two years, CEM and relevant government departments conducted a review and discussion on improving the resilience of power facilities and formulated improving measures for low-lying areas. At present, the electricity supply in Macau is mainly imported from the Mainland China. CEM and Guangdong Power Grid (GPG) have been maintaining close ties to continuously strengthen the disaster prevention and resilience capacity involved in the transmission network in Macau. Some measures include increasing the power supply points of the 500kV main network from two to three, gradually changing the 220kV overhead cable to underground transmission cable, and building the third 220kV transmission cable connecting GPG to form a complementary pattern of three 220kV transmission channels in the north, middle and south, effectively reducing typhoon’s impact on the transmission networks. This safeguards the power supply during hazardous weather conditions.

To tackle the flooding problems in low-lying areas, CEM has implemented a series of flood prevention measures and solutions to reduce the risk of flooding to power facilities and citizens. Measures include optimizing the power grid, raising power infrastructure, inspecting and replacing power facilities, installing flood barriers at customer stations and assisting customers to increase their power supply stability, as well as to comprehensively improve disaster resilience.

Regarding the long-term measures, in order to enhance the disaster prevention and resilience of new buildings in low-lying areas, CEM completed the revision of “technical specifications for new building’s electrical installations in low-lying area” in September last year. The electrical installations of new buildings must be installed above the flood-prevention height level set by the Government at +4.21mSL. For existing buildings, the customers’ building communal electrical installations are jointly owned by the property owners. The owners should hire experienced electrical contractors to raise electrical installations to a higher position. CEM will provide technical support for the design and installation of relevant projects.

During typhoon, when storm surge is in effect, there will be a chance of severe flooding in the low-lying areas, resulting in short-circuit and smoke in low-voltage distribution facilities. In order to ensure personal and property safety of citizens, and to avoid severe damage to the power facilities thus speeding up power restoration after the flood is receded, CEM will take the initiative to suspend power supply in some low-lying areas according to the flooding situation. The scope of power suspension is based on SMG’s guidelines for storm surges and the actual flooding conditions: yellow storm surge warning (water level: estimated at 0.5 to 1.0 m above road level); orange storm surge warning (water level: estimated at 1 to 1.5 m above road level); red storm surge warning (water level: estimated at 1.5 to 2.5 m above road level; black storm surge warning (water level: estimated at more than 2.5 meters above the road level).

During the implementation of power suspension, CEM will notify citizens with the following five stages. 1. Early warning: According to the storm surge warning issued by SMG, CEM will issue an early warning of possible low-lying areas to implement power suspension, reminding citizens to prepare for, and if necessary, cooperating with the civil protection evacuation; 2. Warning: according to the actual water level, CEM will issue a warning to inform citizens who are affected by flooding that power suspension will be implemented in a short period of time; 3. Power suspended: After implementation, CEM will issue a notification; 4. Power restoration initiated: After the water recedes, CEM will immediately send out emergency teams to restore power of affected citizens as soon as possible; 5. Power restoration completed: to be issued after the completion of inspection and repair. Customers who still have no electricity can report to CEM through the link attached in the message.

Regarding power suspension measure and restoration arrangement, CEM will publish notifications through CEM WeChat, Facebook fan page and website. CEM also encourage citizens to bind electricity bills or e-Service account in CEM WeChat, or subscribe to individual buildings in order to receive push notifications. Citizens can visit CEM website at www.cem-macau.com to check the areas and maps that will be affected by various levels of storm surges leading to power suspension.

In addition, to provide the public with more access to emergency information, DSCC’s representative also introduced the new version of “GeoGuide for emergency” ver. 2.0 mobile mapping App. “GeoGuide for emergency”, launched in October 2018, was used to assist public in responding to emergencies through the application of geographic information technology. In addition to providing online and offline emergency maps, areas affected by storm surges, locations of emergency shelter center meeting points, and emergency hotlines, the new version of “GeoGuide for emergency” also incorporate functions to estimate the range of low-lying areas affected by storm surges, real time severe weather warning and water level monitoring information. “GeoGuide for emergency” provides user interface and information in four languages: Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese, and English. Citizens are welcomed to search through App Store or Google Play or scan the QR code for free download. For details, please visit DSCC website at https://www.dscc.gov.mo.

CEM Website: Optimizing power facilities in low-lying areas	CEM Facebook fan page	CEM WeChat (Chinese only)

“GeoGuide for emergency” ver. 2.0 mobile mapping App