Belco representatives said the company is looking at all forms of alternate power to help the Island’s growing energy needs.Addressing a crowd at Bermuda College, representatives said Bermuda could see major solar and wind power projects come to light before 2018.But Belco President Andrew Parson said that the company’s central plant will likely still be at the heart of the Island’s power supply for the near future.“Hopefully we will reduce our use of fossil fuel,” he said. “We do realise it is a resource that is becoming more scarce.“We do recognise that small scale renewables are something that need to be in the mix, but it can be intermittent, so at any time we need to have a base plant to make sure we have the capacity to supply the demand.“We say 20 percent in 2020 not just because it’s catchy, but because it’s what’s feasible.”In a presentation about the company’s view on the Island’s energy future, Mechanical Engineer Athanasious Smith said that the company hopes to install new energy generation equipment by 2013 to replace some aging equipment currently in use.The new equipment would be installed in a new North Station, to be built between Cemetery Road and St John’s Road. The project would also add a third smokestack at the Belco Central Plant.Mr Smith explained that several of the central plant’s oldest generators are already working beyond their normal service life. In order to replace the generators by 2013, Belco must get planning permission for the new site this summer.“At this time, the central plant is the only area we can build a new diesel plant,” Mr Smith said. “And in order to get this built in time, we need to have all our ducks in a row.”As time progresses, he said Belco would be able to remove and replace generators in the future without having to expand their physical footprint, building and rebuilding in the same area.Regarding renewable energy, Mr Smith said Belco believed the Island could see an 80-acre solar panel facility constructed on a finger of land at the Bermuda airport in St David’s by the end of 2015.And by the end of 2018, he said an offshore wind farm could potentially be built in one of four likely sites to the north of Bermuda.“If there was to be a development of this nature, we believe this would be the best place for it,” he said.However, he reiterated the importance of the Belco’s central plant, saying that both wind and solar power are inconsistent, producing more or less energy depending on weather conditions.