Nevis has a date with
geothermal energy
CARIBBEAN360 JANUARY 25, 2016
MOUNT NEVIS SITS AT THE CENTRE OF THE
VOLCANIC ISLAND OF NEVIS, WHICH HAS
RESERVES OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY. NEVIS IS
THE SMALLER ISLAND OF THE PAIR, KNOWN
AS THE FEDERATION OF ST. KITTS AND NEVIS.
(PHOTO: DESMOND BROWN/IPS)
By Desmond Brown
CHARLESTOWN, Nevis, Monday January 25,
2016, IPS – Legislators on the tiny volcanic
island of Nevis in the northern region of
the Lesser Antilles say they are on a path
to going completely green and have now
set a date when they will replace diesel-
fired electrical generation with 100 per
cent renewable energy.
The island, with a population of 12,000
currently imports 4.2 million gallons of
diesel fuel annually, at a cost of US$12
million, a bill it hopes to cut down
significantly. Nevis consumes a maximum
of 10 mw of energy annually.
Deputy Premier and Minister of Tourism of
Nevis, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of St.
Kitts and Nevis Mark Brantley said
geothermal energy is something that sets
Nevis apart.
“About 10 years ago we discovered that
we have geothermal energy here. It has
taken a while but we are not at a stage
where all the exploration work has been
done and we have been assured that
geothermal goes live in December of
2017,” Brantley told IPS.
“What that means is that when that plant
switches on in December of 2017, fully
100 per cent of Nevis’ electricity will be
supplied by renewables. Nowhere else in
the world can boast that and so it will
make us the greenest place on planet
earth. That’s the new tagline – the
greenest place on planet earth.”
Nevis is the smaller island of the pair,
known as the Federation of St. Kitts and
Nevis. It is home to active hot springs and
a large geothermal reservoir. Seven
volcanic centres have been identified on
Nevis and drilling at three sites has
indicated that the geothermal reservoir is
capable of producing up to 500 mw of
constant base load power year round.
Brantley said the shift to geothermal could
not have come at a better time.
“We’ve just come out of Paris with COP21;
the world is talking about climate change
and what we can do. I think it really gives
Nevis another string to its bow in terms of
things that we can talk about and exciting
developments here that would drive traffic
to the island as people come and would
want to be a part of something that is so
natural,” Brantley said.
“First of all, we’ll certainly go completely
green. Our emissions, our carbon
footprint is reduced to almost zero.
Secondly, we have a situation where you
have the cost savings are likely to be
anywhere from 40 to 50 per cent.
“Traditionally we pay anywhere from 40
to 45 US cents per kilowatt hour.
Geothermal is being offered at about 17
or 18 cents per kilowatt hour. So just
imagine, your operating costs are cut
dramatically and how that can attract
businesses. We are already having interest
from people wanting to do electric
scooters so just think Jetsons,” Brantley
added.
DEPUTY PREMIER AND MINISTER OF
TOURISM OF NEVIS, MARK BRANTLEY.
(PHOTO: DESMOND BROWN/IPS)
Brantley referred to the 1960’s American
animated sitcom ‘The Jetsons’ where the
family resides in Orbit City. All homes and
businesses are raised high above the
ground on adjustable columns. George
Jetson lives with his family in the Skypad
Apartments: his wife Jane is a
homemaker, their teenage daughter Judy
attends Orbit High School, and their early-
childhood son Elroy attends Little Dipper
School. Housekeeping is seen to by a
robot maid, Rosie, which handles chores
not otherwise rendered trivial by the
home’s numerous push-button Space Age-
envisioned conveniences.
“The idea here, if you can imagine a place
where visitors come, there are electric
cars, electric scooters and everything
because we have a cheap source of
energy. Not only that, the experts are
telling us that we have maybe somewhere
north of 150 megawatts of available
energy. Nevis only uses 10, so you have
enough to export to St. Kitts because they
are just two miles away,” Brantley said.
“In fact we’ve already done the
interconnectivity studies; but also islands
that are within that radius so Antigua is a
possibility because they have no prospects
for geothermal energy there.
“Anguilla has no prospects there but we
also have neighbouring islands like St.
Barts, Saba, St. Eustatius who have
potential so Nevis can potentially, I think in
a year become a net exporter of energy.
And as a net exporter of energy we can
change the whole economic paradigm in
terms of what we rely on here so that we
can wean ourselves even off tourism as a
main stay and have energy and energy
production instead. So I think there are
some exciting times ahead for Nevis,” he
added.
Dominica recently launched its own
geothermal project with plans to
construct a small power plant for
domestic consumption and a bigger plant
of up to 100 mw of electricity for export
to the neighbouring French islands of
Guadeloupe and Martinique.
A Geothermal Energy Bill is to go before
the House of Assembly in the first quarter
of this year. Prime Minister Roosevelt
Skerrit said the Geothermal Bill shows the
commitment by his Government to pursue
geothermal energy development.
“We’re hoping in the first quarter of this
year to go to parliament to pass the
legislation. It had to go through a
rigorous review by our partners. That has
been concluded. You know we had the
challenge with the French consortium. We
are engaging new partners but we’re also
looking at the possibility of going with a
small plant on our own. We’re engaging
friendly governments, we’re engaging
institutions,” he said.
“As you know we have an offer of a loan
from the World Bank and that is still on
the table. So the government now has to
look at the financing options and decide
which way it’s going to go with the
geothermal plant. But we believe,
notwithstanding the storm, it is important
for us to pursue those renewable energy
imperatives because based on advice, this
would certainly be a major plus for the
economy of Dominica.”
In August Tropical Storm Erika tore across
Dominica, devastating villages, wrecking
bridges and leaving a reconstruction bill
worth half the country’s annual GDP.
About 10 inches of rain fell in a few hours,
turning rivers on the mountainous island
into torrents and hillsides into deadly
mudslides. The capital Roseau was
engulfed by water, and the island’s main
airport was out of action for close to a
month and will cost some US$15 million to
repair. At least 31 people died in the
storm.
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