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the St. Kitts Electricity Company Ltd (SKELEC),
Ministry of Finance,Office of the Attorney General,
and private sector “as it relates to solidifying our
roadmap in respect of our geothermal develop-
ment here on St. Kitts and in Nevis with particular
focus on the development on St. Kitts.”
“We have so far done the 3G studies -- the
geological, geophysical, and geochemical stud-
ies or the surface studies… there is potential on
St. Kitts to develop at least 18 to 36 megawatts
of geothermal power and that’s heartening for
us here in St. Kitts and Nevis,” said Liburd, while
indicating that the next step is to consider the
way forward for slim-hole and exploration drilling.
Liburd said that the government received a
draft geothermal agreement from its partners
for which Cabinet decided that there should be
an independent review. According to the Min-
ister, the government consulted with the CAR-
ICOM and the CDB.
“Where we are right now in terms of the next
steps, next set of actions and timelines, we
have agreed today that we would restructure
the geothermal agreement and we have put a
timeline on that to be completed by the end of
June this year.We also have agreement in terms
of the provision of a business plan and financial
model from Teranov.We would, in terms of the
joint venture company arrangements, consider
the shareholder agreement issues that deal
with decision-making; and the commercial
issues are key business points in some reform
and, indeed, we did agree on the way forward as
it relates to development of this resource on St.
Opening Lines
Kitts,” Liburd said.
He said it was necessary to have further
discussions because any agreement signed off
on has to bear in mind that government owns
the land; the utility called SKELEC and the gov-
ernment will own the resource. Liburd said that
whatever comes out of the agreement has to
“ensure we protect the best public interest” and
“there must be real benefit for the end consumer.
In November 2015, Teranov began geother-
mal exploration exercises in the Sandy Point
area around Brimstone Hill, going to the top
of Mount Liamigua. Five geo-scientists were in
St. Kitts conducting feasibility studies in geo-
physics, geology and geochemistry. President
of Teranov, Jacques Chouraki, said then that the
prospects for geothermal energy on St Kitts
were promising.
In September 2015, Liburd signed a memoran-
dum of understanding (MOU) with Teranov,which
includes a road map that can possibly see the
production of geothermal energy in 2020.
Liburd has underscored the point that fossil
fuel costs are very exorbitant and that “if we are
going to continue our development and if we
are going to ensure economic growth” that the
government must adopt a policy of renewable
energy because “we are blessed with sunshine,
we are blessed with wind and in the federation
of two islands we have two volcanoes.”