Northern Metropolis data hub may surpass MTR Corp as Hong Kong’s top power consumer

he Range (Hong Kong) Sandy Ridge data facility cluster in the Northern Metropolis.

Photo: Edmond So A planned supercomputing hub in Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis could overtake the MTR Corporation rail operator as the city’s single largest electricity consumer, prompting a green group and experts to call for setting energy efficiency standards to limit the sector’s carbon emissions.

According to The Green Earth’s estimates, the new project – set to begin operating in 2029 – could increase the industry’s annual carbon emissions by about 70 per cent compared with current levels.

Experts have urged incorporating sustainable policies and design before work begins.

The hub’s projected annual consumption is equivalent to the electricity used by roughly 530,000 households in a year. “The most pressing issue is the current lack of government regulation regarding both energy consumption and carbon emissions,” said Steven Chan Wing-kit, assistant environmental affairs manager at The Green Earth. “Picture another large-scale electricity consumer springing out within a few years … if the government continues its current approach to focus only on decarbonising the power grid rather than actively managing electricity consumption, we are concerned that carbon emissions will escalate rapidly.” According to available official statistics, existing data centres in the city took up about 4.35 per cent of Hong Kong’s electricity consumption in 2023 at 7,131 terajoules, or 1.98 billion kilowatt-hours.

Consumption jumped by 75 per cent from 2018 to 2023, with the associated carbon emissions rising by about 35 per cent, according to the green group.

As of last year, about 47 providers were operating more than 100 data facilities in the city.

Based on the latest energy end-use data published by the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department in 2025, The Green Earth estimated that existing data centres generated 922,390 tonnes of carbon emissions in 2023 from electricity consumption.

The supercomputing hub, with a total area of over 110,000 square metres to be built in Sandy Ridge, aims to fuel the development of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.

By 2032, the cluster is expected to provide 180,000 petaflops of computing power, equivalent to 36 times the city’s current capacity.

It is expected to consume about 220 megawatts of electricity – representing an hourly consumption of 220,000 kWh – according to Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun D

原文链接: 南华早报