Hong Kong’s first zero-carbon chiller system will be built at Nina Tower to enhance energy efficiency and significantly reduce carbon emissions at the complex, following the signing of a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) agreement between Chinachem Group (Chinachem) and CLPe.
Nina Tower—the tallest construction in the New Territories—is a 180,000-square metre complex comprising one of the largest hotels in Hong Kong; office space; a shopping mall; and the wood fossil garden Nina Park. Under the 20-year agreement, CLPe will provide funding, design and engineering work to convert the existing air-conditioning system into an energy efficient water-cooled one. CLPe engineers will be based on-site to operate and maintain the system round the clock. Chinachem Group will pay CLPe a monthly service fee throughout the contract period.
The new chiller plants have a maximum capacity of 9,300 refrigeration tonnes. Controlled by an AI management system, PlantPRO, electricity consumption will be reduced by over 50 per cent compared with the existing system, equivalent to a reduction of 7,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year. Design work for the air-conditioning system is currently underway and enabling work is expected to begin in the second quarter of this year. It will be completed in phases between 2024 and 2027.
Electricity consumed by the chiller plants at Nina Tower will be matched by an equal amount of Green Electricity Certificates linked to a renewable energy project of CLP Holdings, making it Hong Kong’s first zero-carbon chiller system. This is in line with Chinachem Group’s CCG 3050+ roadmap, which aims at reducing carbon emissions by not less than 51.8 per cent by 2030, compared with the base year 2020. —Construction+ Online
Source: Chinachem Group
