Town Planning Board promulgates assessment criteria for considering planning applications for solar photovoltaic system

     The Town Planning Board today (July 21) promulgated a set of assessment criteria for considering applications for planning permission to install a solar photovoltaic (SPV) system as a stand-alone public utility installation.
 
     The Government and the two power companies (i.e. the Hongkong Electric Company Limited and CLP Power Hong Kong Limited) introduced the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme to provide incentives for investment in renewable energy under the post-2018 Scheme of Control Agreements. Installation of an SPV system with a scale commensurate with and incidental to, directly related to and ancillary to the permitted use/development within the same zone on a statutory plan does not require permission from the Board. A stand-alone SPV system on vacant land for the FiT scheme is regarded as a "Public Utility Installation", and planning permission from the Board may be required subject to the provisions of the statutory plan concerned.
 
     The set of assessment criteria for this type of application is now available at the Secretariat of the Board at 15/F, North Point Government Offices, 333 Java Road, North Point, Hong Kong (Tel: 2231 4810 or 2231 4835); the Board's website (www.info.gov.hk/tpb); and at the Planning Enquiry Counters of the Planning Department (hotline: 2231 5000; email: enquire@pland.gov.hk) at 17/F, North Point Government Offices, and 14/F, Sha Tin Government Offices, 1 Sheung Wo Che Road, Sha Tin.
 
     Any enquiries on the above may be addressed to the Secretariat of the Board at the above address or by email (tpbpd@pland.gov.hk).