Power supply back to normal after blackout

Electricity has been fully restored in Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai and Tuen Mun, which were hit by a massive blackout last Tuesday because of a fire on a China Light and Power cable bridge in Yuen Long.

The power company yesterday said that the last of the three 132kV high-voltage replacement cables completed energization at 3am yesterday, fully restoring the supply capability of its power grid in the affected region.

CLP will also remove the collapsed cable bridge within a week.

"The latest energization came after CLP Power successfully energized the first and second 132kV high-voltage replacement cables on June 24 and June 27 respectively," the power giant said in a statement yesterday.

"Once again, CLP Power apologizes for the inconvenience caused to the affected customers and would like to express our gratitude for their understanding."

When replying to questions in the Legislative Council, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said that the Security Bureau's emergency support unit had kept close contact with relevant departments during the blackout on June 21.

"The incident has been resolved promptly and consequences to the public have been minimized," he said.

Tang added that the unit had finished on-field investigations of the other four cable bridges in the city and had promptly provided safety advice - including installing a smart intrusion detection system and enhancing access control to the bridges - to deal with short-term security risks.

The investigation into the incident is still ongoing to further confirm the reason for the fire, the Security Bureau said.

It will also urge CLP to frame and enforce comprehensive enhancement measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

A CLP cable bridge near The Spectra residential estate on Wang Lok Street, Yuen Long, caught fire and exploded last Tuesday evening.

Power supply was cut off in Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai and Tuen Mun.

The fire was put out around 9pm, and no one was injured.

About a million residents in New Territories West went without electricity for two hours.

The blackout also affected some public services.

Tin Shui Wai MTR station was closed and part of the Tuen Ma line service was disrupted for 35 minutes.

The Hospital Authority also reported the electricity supply was unstable for hospitals under the New Territories West Cluster that night, but the operations of emergency rooms of Tuen Mun, Pok Oi and Tin Shui Wai hospitals were not affected.