It seems the St. Kitts geothermal project, recently identified as having a potential for 18-36 MW, will be put on the fast track to development. In a bilateral meeting with St. Kitts officials, the French Ambassador to St. Kitts and Nevis, Phillipe Ardanaz said: “[Hurricane] Irma has triggered some decision in Paris to move forward with stronger support for your project.”
In the meeting on Oct 8 with St. Kitts Prime Minister Dr Timothy Harris and Ian ‘Patches’ Liburd, minister of public infrastructure and Ardanaz, and French foreign trade advisor, Jacques Chouraki, the group discussed how geothermal energy could present more opportunities for St. Kitts.
Ardanaz noted, “First, it will be exportation of electricity from St Kitts. [Second], immediately it’s a lot of economic development on the island and, third, it’s a way to create new paths of regional cooperation and I think this is positive for everyone.”
The ambassador added: “This is a real need for the Caribbean because [devastation from hurricanes] can happen any time again, and we just want to… establish an interconnection with all those islands in the Leeward Islands, to make sure if one is hit by a hurricane it can rely on the energy from surrounding islands – and that’s the basic idea… this is the global picture.”
Teranov found that there is potential in St Kitts to develop at least 18 to 36 megawatts of geothermal power.
During Saturday’s meeting, the French ambassador said: “We want to express our support to the project [in St Kitts], and just to say that with the hurricanes and also with the meeting in Paris at the end of the year [December 12, 2017] – the first meeting of follow-up to COP21 [the Paris climate conference] – I think it’s the perfect timing [to accelerate the pace of its implementation].”
Harris agreed, stating: “We need to put this on fast-track… so that we reach to a point where we can deliver.”
