Conservation Mode

Bermuda looks like it could be in for a dark, dry summer. This week BELCO have been warning locals to reduce their demand for power lest the Island be affected by rolling blackouts, and a lack of rain over the last couple of months is resulting in household water tanks that are slowly emptying.

It's easy to criticise BELCO for not forecasting demand more accurately and taking steps to increase their generating capacity sooner. But at least they're doing something about it now, taking delivery of two new generators in August which will be operational by the middle of next year. So this summer ought to be the last that Bermuda is at risk from power cuts for a while. Or at least, from those due to demand outstripping supply. I'm sure the outages caused by exploding transformers will continue unabated.

The lack of water is a perennial problem, which is somewhat ironic considering Bermuda is surrounded by the stuff. Overseas readers of this site may be unaware that most houses in Bermuda are not connected to a mains water supply. Instead, they derive all their water from the rain that falls on their roofs, subsequently stored in a large tank underneath the house.

The usual course of action when your tank is running low is to buy water from one of the trucks now seen with increasing frequency on the Island's roads. These trucks fill up from Government-owned sea water distillation or reverse osmosis plants, or from underground reservoirs which tap the Island's fresh water lenses. Unfortunately the latter have become depleted too - a little worrying given that it can take rain water two years to filter into them - and the Government has had to start restricting the hours at which the truckers can draw water. As a result, people ordering water today can expect to wait about a week before their order can be filled - a delay that's only going to get longer as the summer wears on.

The upside of running out of water is that it gives you an incentive to clean your tank. It's been God-only-knows how long since the tank under our house was last cleaned; given that it's recommended that you do this at least every six years, it's an opportunity we'll be making the most of. Hurricane Fabian didn't help either; for weeks after our water had a funny smell, even after we added bleach to the tank to disinfect it. (Pouring Clorox into our water supply is something that makes me extremely nervous, but apparently it's perfectly fine, as long as you don't use too much.)

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time I did my bit to help BELCO by turning off the computer.

Comments

[Lickinalong on 27.06.04 at 17:26]

Rather than building more diesel generating power plants with all of the attendant problems of noise, pollution, etc, our Government should be encouraging homeowners to install netmetered photovoltaic cells. Netmetering allows the homeowner to sell back to the utility excess power production. Since the high load periods are during the day when there is sunlight, photovoltaics could help considerably with the high load periods.

I expect that Belco would resist netmetering for a whole range of technical reasons but it has been working in other parts of the world for years. With the current price of electricity being in the range of 25 cents per kilowatt hour (compared to 7 cents in North America), the payback on photovoltaics should be pretty good and would provide the added benefit of an alternate power supply in the event of a hurricane like Fabian.