The
Hongkong Electric Company, Limited (HEC) is planning to retrofit the two
existing 350MW coal-fired generating Units L4 and L5 of Lamma Power Station
with Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) plant for reducing sulphur dioxide
emissions in support of Government policy to improve the air quality of the
Pearl River Delta.
It is
proposed to adopt the “Wet Limestone-Gypsum” process for the FGD plants, a
technology which is already used in, and proved effective and reliable for the
existing coal-fired units L6, L7 & L8.
The
proposed FGD process involves directing the flue gas from the boilers of Units
L4 and L5 to FGD plants, in which limestone slurry is introduced to react with
flue gas for removal of SO2, before discharging to the chimney. As a result, besides a significant reduction
of the SO2 concentration in the flue gas, the temperature of flue
gas entering the chimney will be reduced, waste water from the FGD absorber
will be produced and gypsum will also be produced as a by-product.
The Project
is classified under EIAO as a material change to an exempted designated
project, the Lamma Power Station as a Public
Utility Electricity Power Plant (Item D.1 Part I Schedule 2 of the EIAO
Chapter 499), because of the changes induced by the FGD operations to the types
and quantities of emissions, wastes and effluents. In addition, the demolition
of two existing Light Oil Tanks is a designated project under item 16 Part II (Decommissioning Projects) Schedule 2 of
EIAO (i.e. a store for oil with a storage
capacity exceeding 200 tonnes).
The main objective of
this Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study is to provide a detailed
assessment of the nature and extent of potential environmental benefits and
impacts arising from the construction and operation of the Project in relation
to the issues specified in the EIA Study
Brief (No. ESB-133/2005),
including air quality, noise, water quality, waste, land contamination and
landscape and visual impacts.