BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRIME MINISTER Dr. the Hon. Denzil Douglas insisted that his government would continue to rent costly Aggreko generators until St. Kitts has achieved energy self-sufficiency.
“The people of St. Kitts-Nevis prefer for us to rent than not to have any electricity supply at all,” Douglas claimed during his monthly press conference on Wednesday (Apr. 21). “We shall rent until we have the capacity to own and generate by ourselves.”
An early morning fire at the Needsmust Power Station on October 2, 2008, destroyed two of the plant’s generators and threw the island’s electricity supply into disarray. A system of load-shedding was quickly instituted.
The government began renting generators from Aggreko International Projects Ltd. with an estimated price tag of EC$11M in December of that year, and purchased a MAN Diesel Ltd. Holeby generator in September 2009.
According to Douglas, the government is in the process of ordering more generators with a view towards eventually phasing out the rented Aggreko generators.
“We have two generators on order and we understand we would need to have another two. The government is looking at the possibility of responding appropriately to that.
“The generators, we are buying and renting. We have some which continue to be rented as a result of the fire, and we at the same time are buying to replace those which have been lost from the fire or were decommissioned in recent times.
“As soon as we are able to have enough capacity on the ground, which we own, then the renting will come to an end,” Douglas stressed.
Speaking to SKNVibes, Operations Engineer at the Electricity Department, C. Jomo Williams, revealed that 24MW of power were required to fulfil local demand and that the plant currently has a capacity of 31MW.
He confirmed that the department was expecting the arrival of two more generators, but could not give an estimated arrival time. Williams did reassure that they were working assiduously towards the purchase of even more generators.
“After these new ones arrive, at minimum we’ll need two to be completely self-sufficient and stop renting. But I think we’ll want to acquire more than just that minimum before we stop the rentals, so we can guarantee a reliable and secure electricity supply,” he explained.
