During the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Energy Ministerial Meeting, Xie Zhan, the Commissioner for the Environment of Hong Kong, stated that the Hong Kong government has set the goal of phasing out coal as a daily power source before 2035, and by 2035, the proportion of zero-carbon energy in the fuel mix for electricity generation will be increased to approximately 60 to 70 percent.

Xie Zhan pointed out that the Hong Kong government will launch a pilot scheme for solar energy generation in government buildings, investigating the application of solar energy generation technologies on curtain walls of government buildings. In addition to public institutions, the SAR government also created favorable conditions to encourage the private sector to develop renewable energy. One of the measures was the Feed-in Tariff Scheme launched in 2018. The scheme has approved 0.0255 million applications for grid access, and it is estimated that the approved system can produce more than 0.3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, enough to meet the power demand of approximately 0.122 million households per year.

Xie Zhan pointed out that Hong Kong still faces six major challenges - "ensuring safety", "appropriate technology", "infrastructure", "cost-effectiveness", "talent training", and "social acceptance" - in order to become a demonstration platform for hydrogen energy technology. The Hydrogen Energy Strategy proposes four major strategies - "improving regulations", "formulating standards", "cooperating with the market", and "promoting prudently" - to create an orderly environment conducive to the local development of hydrogen energy based on these challenges and Hong Kong's unique situation.

Xie Zhan left Peru last Saturday (17th) and will return to Hong Kong this afternoon (19th).