Announced today in an email sent by Teravov to the market, the Government of St Kitts-Nevis and Teranov will join efforts to establish a public-private partnership, with the ultimate goal to generate electricity via a geothermal power plant.
A Memorandum of Understanding, committing the two parties and governing the terms of this collaboration, has now been signed. This announcement was made during the seminar “Geothermal: Wealth and energy autonomy of the Caribbean – Producing our energy differently”, co-hosted by the Guadeloupe Regional Council and ADEME1 on the 9th and 10th of September, 2015.
This project is a direct result of the energy policy defined by the Government of St Kitts-Nevis and the green growth objectives promoted by CARICOM at the regional level. The endeavor will help to develop renewable energy, to decrease dependency on fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions within the region.
Teranov, a Guadeloupe based engineering company, which specializes in geothermal and project development, will analyze the geothermal resource in St Kitts using the methodology currently implemented within the GEOTREF consortium. The latter, led by Teranov, includes 9 internationally renowned French laboratories (CNRS, ENS Mines de Paris, UAG, etc) and 3 private companies, and is sponsored by a French funding program called “Investments for the Future”. GEOTREF uses characterization and modeling tools coming from the oil&gas upstream sector to geothermal explorations. The objective is to achieve a better reservoir management and to lower geological risk.
“This public-private partnership will provide a great opportunity to develop the geothermal resources in St Kitts-Nevis. Electricity production from local and renewable resources is critical to the economic and sustainable development of St Kitts-Nevis”, explains Hon. Ian Liburd, Minister of Public infrastructure, Post, Urban development and Transport within the Government of St Kitts-Nevis.
“Geothermal energy represents an essential resource for the Caribbean islands: it takes into account its environmental and social potential and constraints. To achieve this, we can rely on the French expertise and regional presence. To date, Guadeloupe remains the only Caribbean island that has a geothermal plant in operation: it is an asset that should be put forward”, says Jacques CHOURAKI, President of the Teranov company.
The agreement signed between the parties provides for the creation of a joint company, ultimately in charge of the resource exploration and utilization, as well as a roadmap with defined objectives. First phase of the project, which begins 1st October 2015, will focus on geological, geochemical and geophysical surface exploration, and aims at characterizing commercially viable geothermal resource.
The Federation of St Kitts – Nevis is an independent State made up of two islands namely St Kitts (176 km.) and Nevis (93 km.) with a population of about 55 000 inhabitants. The yearly power consumption of the State reached 190 GWh, almost a hundred times less than in Guadeloupe. Electricity is currently generated at nearly 98% from fossil fuels. The federal government focus on the production of an efficient and environmentally friendly electricity supply that facilitates the economic growth of the country.
Teranov is an engineering and services company, based in Guadeloupe, dedicated towards the development of high and medium enthalpy geothermal energy in Latin America and the Caribbean. It covers the full range of services necessary to explore and develop geothermal fields. Its approach, complete and interdisciplinary, aims to provide innovative solutions at all stages of a geothermal power plant project: from exploration and resource evaluation, including high tech reservoir modeling tools, to project development via design studies and project management.
If you would like to learn more about Teranov and this project, please contact Jacques Chouraki at jchouraki@teranov.com or Frédéric Gerard at fgerard@teranov.com.
