BELCO’S future Moving from fossil fuels

Krista Barnes, Director, Communications and Sustainability, explains BELCO’s long-term plans as it demolishes and dismantles a landmark building and power generating engines

For the past 117 years, Bermuda Electric Light Company Limited (BELCO) has been proudly powering the homes and businesses of Bermuda. During that time, much has changed; consumption of electricity has grown exponentially, and our system has been continually improved and adapted to meet the needs of our customers, always working to make the system safer, more economical, and more reliable. We have also learned over the decades about the environmental impact of our power generation operations, and we have worked steadily to remediate historical damage while seeking new, more sustainable methods of generating electricity.

In April 2020, our North Power Station (NPS), which is comprised of four generating assets, was commissioned to replace inefficient and outdated engines with modern, efficient engines. We believe this will be Bermuda’s last fossil-fuelpowered plant. Alternative power generation technology is improving, and we believe now, more than ever, there is an opportunity to transition to economical, large-scale, renewable power for Bermuda. Going forward, our focus is on achieving Net Zero by 2050 using battery energy storage systems; offsetting emissions; increasing internal and operational efficiencies; the introduction of more renewable energy sources to our energy mix; and upgrading our transmission and distribution infrastructure to accommodate the intermittent nature of most renewable technology.

Since inception, BELCO has installed 16 power generating assets along with 8 smokestacks to meet the island’s energy demands. As of today, we have decommissioned 50% of our generators and are looking to remove 63% of our smokestacks.

Taking a wrecking ball to fossil fuels

BELCO’s central plant, showing building demolition underway

These old engines, as well as the buildings they were housed in and associated infrastructure, including some of our smokestacks, are now being decommissioned, dismantled, and disposed of in our Asset Retirement Project (ARP), which has been planned since 2014. Not only does the ARP address several safety concerns on-campus along with several the operational and environmental concerns of our stakeholders, but it also creates usable space for our future diversification requirements, increases the aesthetic appeal of our facility, remediates any historical damage to the property, and will ensure the safe removal of hazardous material.

The ARP is confined to the BELCO central plant and is expected to last between one to two years with the initial phase of the project consisting of the cleaning out of building interiors and exteriors; the draining of oil and fluids; and Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) abatement. With the ACM abatement process completed, the project team is now well advanced in the demolition of buildings. Currently, BELCO in combination with highly skilled contractors, are working on the demolition of the Old Power Station while dismantling and removing several decommissioned generators.

As the energy industry has evolved over the past century, BELCO has strived to go above and beyond in terms of safety and service to the community while evolving with the industry. We are committed to investing in Bermuda’s sustainable energy future; however, we recognise that change does not happen overnight. The amalgamation of all the small steps we take will bring us success and we are excited about the progress we have made so far. We encourage all of our stakeholders to remain connected with us because this is only the beginning.

To learn more about BELCO’s ARP progress visit www.belco.bm.