A new 120-foot smoke stack will rise on the Pembroke skyline as the Bermuda Electric Light Company works to expand its capacity and comply with Government's Clean Air Act.

The new stack -- which Belco hopes will be up by July -- will be the most obvious sign of about $22 million in capital projects now under way at Belco's power plant alone.

"There's a lot happening,'' said Mr. Garry Madeiros, Belco's president and chief operating officer. "I would want to suggest, quite honestly, that there's more going on than we want to have going on.'' Older dirty-burning engines have been retired in the last year and a 12-megawatt slow-speed diesel engine is being repaired after it broke down last summer. Two 2.5 megawatt Allison gas turbines were recently installed. A new 13-megawatt gas turbine unit is about to arrive and should be operating by mid-July. And the new 120-foot stack will be handling emissions from two new 5.5-megawatt Pielstick diesel engines now being installed in Belco's west power station.

Until the slow-speed diesel is repaired, the net effect will be 18 megawatts of extra capacity, Mr. Madeiros told The Royal Gazette yesterday. An added spin-off will be a cleaner plant, he said.

Belco has sought Development Applications Board approval for the new smoke stack. Much taller than those it will replace, it will still be shorter than the existing 170-foot stack over Belco's east power station.

It replaces stacks in the west station which are only about 66 feet -- about as tall as the plant itself.

"The increased stack height is directly related to a better dispersion of emissions,'' Mr. Madeiros said. "The higher you send it up, the further it's going to go, and the more likely it will be dispersed and go out to sea.'' It should result in "a noticeable improvement'' in air emissions from the west plant, said Belco spokesman Ms Linda Smith.

While taller, the stack in the east plant serves four engines. The new 120-foot stack will only serve two.

Mr. Madeiros said the 13-megawatt gas turbine was due to be installed this year in any event. But last summer's breakdown of the slow-speed diesel -- which was a factor in Belco's pleas to the public to cut consumption -- prompted much of the other capital work.

"When you're in the business of selling electricity, it's kind of strange when you're out there telling people not to use any,'' Mr. Madeiros said. "It was not a position we wanted to get into again next year.'' Recent installation of the two 2.5-megawatt Allisons was "somewhat driven'' by last summer's experience, he said. The quick-start standby generators would give Belco more flexibility.

Purchase of the two Pielstick diesels -- which stopped traffic as they were moved to Cemetery Road from the Hamilton docks on recent weekends -- "without question was driven by last year's malfunction'', Mr. Madeiros said.

The second-hand engines -- which were never-used back-up generators for a nuclear plant that never got built -- were not part of Belco's plan. But the addition of 18 megawatts of gas turbine generation raised concerns about fuel consumption. Belco wanted the Pielstick diesels to balance its mix between gas and diesel generation of electricity.

Belco's engines usually must be engineered and purpose-built. The Pielsticks already existed, could be obtained for a reasonable price, and could be "skid-mounted'', rather than installed on a concrete base, for maximum flexibility.

If the slow-speed diesel -- now in parts in Japan and in Belco warehouses -- gets back on line, Belco will not have to start working on its next major diesel expansion until the year 2000, Mr. Madeiros said. That is two years later than planned.

Those two years would be valuable in assessing new technology for generating electricity and finding out what is to happen with Base lands returned by the US Navy, he said.

Belco has asked Government to set aside land at the US Naval Annex in Southampton for possible future electricity needs.

By Paul Egan