Approval To Construct Replacement Generation
Ascendant Group advised that BELCO has obtained RA approval to “construct replacement generation,” with the company saying that in addition to the creation of new jobs during the construction phase and the assurance of employees’ ongoing safety, “there are numerous benefits that will be realised by our customers once the replacement generation is commissioned.”
“BELCO welcomes the approval by the Regulatory Authority, in its order issued Tuesday, 6 March 2018, of BELCO’s proposal to construct replacement generation,” the BSX filing stated.
“The Order means that BELCO can now proceed with the construction of four new dual-fuel engines totalling 56 MW, to be known as the North Power Station, and a utility scale battery energy storage system [BESS], which will have an output capacity of 10 MW.
“The North Power Station and BESS are an integral part of BELCO’s Capital Plan and will be built on BELCO’s existing Pembroke facility. BELCO will replace 9 generators [out of 17] that will be retired between now and 2020, as they are well beyond their useful service lives.”
“I am extremely pleased that the Authority has recognised the urgency of proceeding with the development of the replacement generation,” said Sean Durfy, President & CEO of BELCO.
“Given that 50% of our existing generation capacity will be retired over the next two years, the Order will allow BELCO to continue to provide Bermuda a reliable electricity supply.”
“In addition to the creation of new jobs during the construction phase of the North Power Station and BESS, and the assurance of our employees’ ongoing safety, there are numerous benefits that will be realised by our customers once the replacement generation is commissioned,” he continued.
“These include more cost effective generation, increased system reliability, cleaner operations for the environment and a significant decrease in the vibration and noise level currently experienced by nearby residents.”
“We will continue to provide regular updates to all stakeholders on the implementation of this critical infrastructure.”
He concluded, “I would like to thank all of our employees for their dedication and hard work every day in tough conditions to keep Bermuda powered and look forward to when both our employees and customers reap the benefits of an up to date power plant.”
” BELCO can now proceed with the construction of four new dual-fuel engines totalling 56 MW, to be known as the North Power Station” Not clear on whether Planning Permission is already in hand?? Nothing seems to show on the Gov’t Planning website so I think BELCO still needs to address environmental and neighborhood concerns ????
“…construction of four new dual-fuel engines…”
What are the two fuels these engines can use?
I would imagine these would be heavy fuel oil (what is used now) and gas
Probably natural gas (as the default) and diesel. Massive hi tech project. It’s like changing from a Brittania propellor airplane to a Boeing 787.
A duel fuel generator is not actually very high tech. It’s just a regular generator, similar to but more modern/efficient/safe than our current generators, which can burn two types of fuel instead of just one.
The larger project on the horizon is the LNG terminal in, I’m guessing, St Geo by the current oil docks. In order to receive LNG from a ship/carrier, it needs to be stored and then regasified and piped to the generation plant and other end-users (like, to houses for cooking gas). Because its room temp. state is gaseous, all of this is more complex than for Bermuda’s current fuel, HFO, which is liquid at room temp. In other words, an LNG terminal will probably be a big investment.
HFO and natural gas
Duel Fuel means they can burn HFO (heavy fuel oil, ie, dielsel), which is our current main fuel source, as well as natural gas.
So, if the supply of the primary fuel source is disrupted (think geopolitical events, price surges, etc), the power company can purchase the second type of fuel. It helps reduce supply risks. I think it takes about a day to switch over from one fuel type to the other.
In Bermuda’s case, it also means the generators can continue to burn HFO until Belco builds an LNG regasification plant and switches over to LNG as the primary fuel source. LNG requires more infrastructure at the receiving end than HFO does, so it’s not a simple transition. It’ll take time and further investment.
*diesel*
sorry, typo
I think we should put a Wind farm in the middle of the great sound. It would be really cool to look at and a great fishing spots. If you don’t live in the great sound your opinion does not count.
I totally recommend reading the 2014 Bermuda wind turbine study:
https://www.bren.ucsb.edu/research/2014Group_Projects/documents/BermudaWind_Final_Report_2014-05-07.pdf
Thanks. Didn’t even know there was a publicly available study. Interesting reading.
It would be nice if organizations like Greenrock publicized things like this instead of just organizing a walkabout with glow sticks.
I want to be a library researcher in my next life
Another sad day for Bermuda and the non-shareholders of the ONLY power generation company.
With a Ministry dedicated to Reform, the PLP should have forced Durfy and Co to focus on renewables instead of chaining us down with fossil fuels for another 20 years. The govt should also legislate that any new residential (and possibly commercial) builds and renovations contain X solar panels based on some Y variable (IE roof size or square footage of the dwelling).
The govt needs to incentivize the public to go solar and cut out BELCO as much as we can, up to and including 100% off-grid solar PV systems with battery storage!
You’re funny. You cannot power an island on renewables, you can only supplement. Belco is simply modernizing and upgrading the base load plant. Feel free to start your own renewable farm.
This is why we don’t go by what YOU think…you’re obviously uninformed as to the damage to the earth wind turbines cause…here’s a little bit of information for you
https://youtu.be/_7Q8qU4LUi0
You must be a vegan.
Not out fault China doesn’t have proper regulations. You should probably go there and protest.
Troll edjit
Definitely vegan or conspiracy theorist hippie
And if iam not mistaken, Morgan’s point is goung full bore, so is the airport, and the hotel in st George’s….
Damm, never rains, but it pours….
Not complianing….
hhmm…. Bermudians MUST receive many of these jobs.
We are smart , educated and creative.
Let us see what soon happens…not more foreigners!!
Let us watch to see if BERMUDIANS ARE DELIBERATELY SQUEEZED OUT OF JOBS. ALL OF THE STREET WORKERS ARE HIGHLY SKILLED AND HIGHLY QUALIFIED TO PERFORM PROFESSIONAL SERVICES.
THE PROTEST HOPEFULLY WAS NOT ABOUT THESE “NEW JOBS” ON OUR HORIZONS!!
BelCo, retrain your current staff, if necessary.
You are a racist scum of the earth. Most people hate people like you.
Here i am thinking new generation ov workers to help the economy ov new business in order to be able sustain the island and maybe our elderly can start getting pension guess we will have wait bit longer for that…..nope sounds like another bill to me
The ONLY reason the extraordinarily high investment in battery energy storage systems makes any sense is to store excess renewable energy. Bermuda does not generate more renewable power that it can immediately use. Using batteries to store energy generated by conventional fossil fueled engines is completely nonsensical. It has become SOP for regulated utilities to spend money they don’t need to, because they make a regulated rate of return on what they spend on capital equipment. BELCO’s decision to install BESS must be questioned.