Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 17, 2015 (SKNIS)—Minister of Public Infrastructure, The Honourable Ian Liburd, has assured the public that whatever arrangements the government will enter into regarding alternative energy must be in the interest and benefit of the people of St. Kitts and Nevis. The minister, a guest on the government’s radio programme “Working For You,” spoke of the discussions the government has had with potential investors in wind energy and waste to energy.
On the matter of wind energy, the minister disclosed that he has gotten the potential investors to agree to provide a stable supply of electricity. Unlike previous negotiations, where investors sought to enter into a power purchasing agreement where the government would have to invest in upgrading its power grid that would integrate the energy generated from wind energy, Minister Liburd sought to have the potential investors guarantee the power supply.
“We have to establish whether we want integration or stability. So its wind integration versus stability,” Minister Liburd said. “My view still is, and I got the potential investor in the wind farm to agree to that—provide us with a stable supply of electricity. So the burden must be on you (investor)—you are supplying an intermittent resource, then you must supply a stable resource to us so if any storage is required then you must invest in the storage,” the minister further explained.
With respect to waste to energy, the minister disclosed that there are discussions, but there has been nothing “concrete” from the suppliers.
“It has to do with what is the cost per kilowatt hour for whatever the intermittent resources and what the expenditure that SKELEC (St. Kitts Electricity Company), which is government would have to put out there,” Minister Liburd said.
The General Manager of the Solid Waste Management Corporation, Mr. Alphonso Bridgewater, has repeatedly said that waste to Energy has also been seen as a solution to the country’s solid waste constraints, as the sanitary landfill in Conaree has outlived its lifespan and is mainly managed by the Solid Waste Management Corporation to slightly extend its usage.
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