Belco Holdings Ltd.'s plate, chief executive officer Garry Madeiros announced yesterday.

Consultants from the Bermuda Biological Station for Research are working with Belco to see if the Island could support the technology needed to make wind-generated energy a reality, he told members of Hamilton Lions at their weekly luncheon.

And a business plan is being drawn up which looks into the cost of the technology and the investment required by Belco.

Mr. Madeiros said he expects to receive the plan in the next few months. The next step will be to look at wind speeds and measurements which will be taken out at North Rock where a measuring device will be placed on the existing tower.

Mr. Madeiros said: "Wind speeds will dictate feasibility of the technology.

At that point we will bring in a manufacturer of wind turbines.

"This is definitely an area that has the most realistic opportunity of being part of the future mix at Belco,'' he continued.

"Technology has improved significantly in the last few years to where it is cost effective. There is a very good chance of this being very successful.'' Belco readies for winds of change The stack needed to support the generator will have to be about 250 feet high which will make an offshore station necessary, he said. This adds maintenance issues and the strength of the sea bed to the list of things to look into.

Other forms of environmental energy were ruled out by Belco, said Mr.

Madeiros.

Solar energy requires too much land area for an Island of Bermuda's size while tidal energy was ruled out since the average waves were only three feet. Nor does Bermuda have any large bodies of moving water which makes hydro energy impossible, he added.

Meanwhile, the possibility of Belco introducing smaller five to ten megawatt stations around the Island is another area being looked into, said Mr.

Madeiros. He explained that this would allow Belco to be closer to their customers and cut down on difficulties reaching customers in the outlying parishes from a single, central power plant.

Southside and the West End are two of the major areas that Belco is considering for smaller plants as a result of recent developments there.

However Belco anticipates a concern from residents in those areas, noted Mr.

Madeiros.

"People have the not-in-my-backyard (nimby) syndrome,'' he said. Mr. Madeiros noted that Belco's new engines were expected to be in full service by the end of July. The $42 million project to install the trio of engines began in January last year with the building of a new stack, which Mr. Madeiros jokingly referred to yesterday as "the leaning tower of Bermuda''.

The engines are now in place and tests are set to kick off around the end of April which is one month behind schedule. This delay was a result of minor setbacks throughout the entire project but were not connected to problems encountered during the construction of the new smoke stack, he said.

The new engines should allow Belco to better meet public demand, reduce emissions and begin retiring some of the older engines, he noted.

Mr. Madeiros said there was a consumption of 102.6 megawatts last summer, leaving 37 megawatts as a safety zone. The new engines will add 28 megawatts by the end of the year, giving Belco a comfortable margin should anything go wrong.