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| Dr. Kerry McDonald, CEO West Indies Power Holdings Ltd. | Charlestown Nevis February 7 2007)--Exploration for renewable energy will commence in Nevis in the next week. At a press conference on Friday February 3rd at the Credit Union Conference Room, West Indies Power (Nevis) Ltd. got the nod to commence exploration work.
Minister with responsibility for Public Utilities and the Environment, the Hon. Carlisle Powell said that the Nevis Island Administration had issued a licence to the company to explore the geothermal resource of the island for 18 months.
"We are giving them our blessing to go and explore for Geothermal energy on Nevis with the very sound knowledge that once they find energy, once they are able to produce the energy and sell it to NEVLEC, that the price of energy as delivered to the consumer will be considerably reduced.
Let's hope that they find it soon, let's hope that in the very near future we will all be smiling, and they will be happy having made returns on their investment. The people of Nevis would be happy, paying less for fuel and with that in mind, I want to give the project our fullest blessing and support", he said.
Mr. Powell explained that the project would bring a number of benefits to the island and which meant that the island would have energy in reserve which would attract new companies to establish and do business with the island.
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| Hon. Carlisle Powell at Geothermal Press Conference |
Once the project meets it objective, Powell noted that Nevis would be positioned to export renewable energy to St. Kitts and surrounding islands at a cheaper rate than they could produce their own energy given the cost of oil market prices.
"We would want in Nevis to be able to produce, sell energy to NEVLEC who would be able to sell energy to all of whom would be secure in the knowledge that wed be selling them energy cheaper&That to me is exciting, and that is what the Nevis Island Administration is extremely happy to give its blessing to," he said.
Powell noted that with the high cost of oil, the Nevis Island Administration was forced to introduce a fuel surcharge to electricity consumers on the island and said that the people of Nevis understood the need for the surcharge but did not readily accept the increase.
Meantime, in response to a question, project geologist Dr. Ronald Skiphoag sought to allay the fears over a concern about the islands volcano and the possibility of any negative impact on the island's environment.
"Numerous studies done over the past years to see if there is some sort of co-relation between geothermal energy and volcanic eruption, and there has been absolutely none. The reason is that we are simply taking off the top vapour above the volcano, and you are not really impacting the magma in any way whatsoever. Simply taking heat which is being lost to the environment and recycling the water taken out to generate the steam back into the system. There has never been any known effect on volcanoes as a result of geothermal energy", he said. ~~adz:Right~~
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| Geothermal Press Conference (L-R) general manager West Indies Power (Nevis) Ltd, Mr. Rawlinson Isaac (standing), Hon. Carlisle Powell, P.S. Mr. Ernie Stapleton, Project Geologist, Dr. Ronald Hoag, CEO, Dr. Kerry McDonald. | Within the next few weeks West Indies (Power) Nevis Ltd would produce a brochure and host radio programs with the intention to educate the citizens of Nevis and those living overseas, to gain peoples interest and to start the process about geothermal power and where it comes from.
Also addressing the press conference were Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) of West Indies Power Holdings Ltd, Dr. Kerry McDonald, newly appointed manager of West Indies Power (Nevis) Ltd, Mr. Rawlinson Isaac, and Permanent Secretary of Public Utilities and the Environment, Ernie Stapleton.
West Indies Power Holdings Ltd is a company registered in the Netherland Antilles created to do exploration and development of geothermal resources, not only in Nevis, but throughout the region.
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