BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - AFTER indicating positive findings for the Federation’s potential in the area of geothermal energy, Minister with Responsibility for the energy sector, the Hon. Ian ‘Patches’ Liburd has yet to give a confirmed start date for exploration.
According to Liburd, his Ministry is currently in the process of reviewing several reports that it has received from two regional agencies tasked with studying the project and its potential risks.
The Minister explained that the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the CARICOM Energy Unit submitted their reports, and upon completion of the government’s review of the information, steps would be taken to make a determination on the way forward.
A decision would have to be made in order to draft an agreement with the company responsible for exploratory drilling.
“One of the things that we are doing, first of all, is seeking to establish an agreement with the developers, which is the Geothermal Drilling Incentivization Agreement,” the Minister said.
He added, “Obviously, it’s a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) approach. So we are in the process of what we call a PPP risk analysis; we have engaged the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to help us in that regard, also the CARICOM Energy Unit…
“We just got back some reports from both parties. Hopefully early in the New Year we can meet the legal experts, the financial experts and all the technical people and finalise the agreement.”
He noted that without the agreement the next step in the peer review - which was conducted by an international firm - cannot commence.
“The next step in the peer review confirming that resource, is to do what we call the exploratory drilling which would establish how much, in terms of the megawatts, we can derive from those wells.”
The minister noted that the geothermal resource is expected to provide some 18 to 35 megawatts of energy when completed.
The geothermal energy forms part of the government’s thrust to enhance its green economy and lower its dependency on fossil fuel.
Shortly after taking office in early 2015, the Team Unity Government was allegedly greeted with a high energy bill under the Petro Caribe Agreement.
The government has indicated that it is making strides in reducing that debt which stood at more than US$80 million.
