Nevis Moving Forward With Geothermal Energy
Charlestown, Nevis
November 7, 2008
Teachers of Science and Technology in Nevis and St. Kitts have had the benefit of a first hand look at the significant progress being made in the development of geothermal energy in Nevis by the Nevis Island Administration.
The opportunity was provided them yesterday when they visited Nevis 3 geothermal well at Hamilton as part of a one-day training workshop in the area of renewable energy resources.
Among the resource persons at the workshop was Lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad and President of the Caribbean Solar Energy Society Dr. Indra Haraksingh. She told the Department of Information that she was excited about the strides made in renewable energy on Nevis.
“This project here in Nevis is long over due and it is very exciting times for Nevis, very exciting times for the Caribbean and for the world because powering here in Nevis through geothermal is fantastic in terms of being able to send it through the other islands because the other islands also have high electricity prices,” she said.
Dr. Haraksingh explained that the Caribbean had all the resources in solar, geothermal and wind energy and the region was in the process of capatilising on them to combat the high cost of electricity.
Senior Energy Economist, Middle East and North America with the World Bank Mr. Pierre Audinet was also on the field visit and pointed to the organization’s support for the geothermal project.
“We do believe that geothermal has some potential in the region and we are very attentive to the developments that are taking place in Nevis which is a bit of a leader in the region for that matter,” he said.
Mr. Audinet noted that he was in Nevis as part of a regional tour to facilitate any reinforcements in the regulatory framework in order to get projects like the geothermal project off the ground.
“As you can imagine this kind of development is essential for the islands but they are also very costly and they need some kind of rules of the games for investors to be able to come forward and develop these projects which take some time,” he said.
Meantime, Junior Minister for Public Utilities, Natural Resources and the Environment on Nevis Hon. Carlisle Powell, described the teachers’ visit to the geothermal well as a fitting end to the workshop.
“You could not cap off that workshop any better way than to have the teachers actually come on site and experience the thrill of seeing the steam coming from Nevis 3. It does not matter what you teach them, it does not matter how many clips you show them they had to be physically present on site to watch the power of the earth coming from underneath so that they would be able to relay to the students.
“When they say electricity is being produced by steam they will be able to say” I was in Nevis and I saw it myself”
The Minister also showered praise on Dr. Haraksingh for her work in the area of renewable energy.
“She has the kind of energy that we need in renewable energy in the Caribbean, We need more peoplee like her to be able to sell renewables in the Caribbean,” he said.