Caribbean Export OUTLOOK 2016 - 2017

Clearing the Hurdles

St. Kitts and Nevis, like the other Leeward Islands, stretching from the British and US Virgin Islands south to Dominica, are “ideally positioned” for geothermal energy development.

tourism industry, with environmentally conscious travellersgravitatingtowardtheislandasamodelfor sustainable development and a destination where the carbon footprint is reduced to nearly zero.  Nevis also hopes to do well from exporting affordableandcleanpowertoitsEasternCaribbean neighbours, starting with its sister island of St. Kitts and then to St. Barths, Sint Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, Antigua, and Anguilla. The geothermal project inNevis, started in 2004, is well advanced in spite of initial difficulties. However the exploratory work has now been completed and a concession awarded to an American company, Nevis Renewable Energy International (NREI). NREI is now in the final financing phase of the project and the expectation is that production drilling will commence within

the amount of energy Nevis uses in a year, give or take a light bulb or two. Minister Brantley is also confident that the economic impact of geothermal will be substantial. He predicts lower power costs for businesses and homes resulting in more disposable income, which can be used for household expenditure on goods and services or business expansion. Expensive power has been consistently identified as one of the major inhibitors to business expansion in the region. Nevis has already attracted interest from light manufacturing operations which want to take advantage of lower energy costs. Expectations are that this will continue allowing Nevis to diversify its economy. Another expectation is that electric cars and scooters could become the main modes of transport.  Nevis is envisaging cheap, clean and plentiful power being a boost to its important

the final quarter of 2015 with the stated intent for a 10MWplant by 2018. The 10MWplant will be the first phase, with additional capacity to be added in subsequent phases. According toMinister Brantley, “there is currently no project in St. Kitts, albeit the Government has stated its intent to explore whether that island has a geothermal resource.” The expectation is for Nevis to supply geothermal power via undersea transmission lines to St. Kitts, two miles away. Interconnectivity studies have already demonstrated the feasibility of that approach. St. Kitts and Nevis, like the other Leeward Islands, stretching from the British and US Virgin Islands south to Dominica, are “ideally positioned” for geothermal energy development. According to the Chief Technical Officer at the

Garry Steckles is a writer, editor and author who is a regular contributor to many leading publications in the Caribbean and Canada. Steckles, who has held senior editing positions with newspapers in Toronto, Chicago, Montreal, Vancouver and Barbados, has been writing about Caribbean culture for more than four decades.

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