Parry said the progress would mean a lot to the government of Nevis, a release from the Nevis Information Service reported.
A visibly elated Premier Parry told the Department of Information that on the heels of a meeting at his Bath Hotel Office with geothermal developers West Indies Power and an advance team of geothermal plant designers, engineers and budget planners involved in the construction of the geothermal plant at Spring Hill along with a representative from the project’s financiers, that the NIA had placed its bets on geothermal development in the interest of the people of Nevis and Phase II of the project meant everything.
According to the information he had received from West Indies Power Executives, drilling geothermal holes for the 10megawatt power plant at Spring Hill, would commence in the latter part of January or early February next year and onsite work on the actual geothermal power plant would begin in March. Financing for the project had also been finalised.
“This stage of the project means everything to the Nevis Island Administration. We have placed our bets on the development of geothermal on the island as a means to diversify the economy and to provide cheaper and consistent electricity; to provide electricity for St. Kitts and possibly beyond St. Kitts…
“The government of Puerto Rico is interested in the geothermal energy if we are ever able to supply geothermal energy to them. So it means everything – jobs, more cascading industries, other industries and furthermore to make Nevis the first green government in the western hemisphere and eventually to make St. Kitts and Nevis the first green nation in the western hemisphere,” he said.
The Premier said the announcement of the start date for Phase II of the geothermal development project on Nevis had come when oil prices on the world market seem to be on the rise due to circumstances occurring in the United States of America.
He said as a result Nevis like other islands of the Caribbean were subject to the vagaries of the movement of the US dollar and the Nevis Island Administration wanted to eliminate that because the island’s economy could not withstand with those shocks which were coming more frequently over the past few years.
TurboCare a company owned by Siemens who are constructing the plant, was represented by Geothermal Programme Director Mr. Donald Leger. President of Just Hot Resources Mr. James Hanson represented his company that will drill the new wells at Spring Hill and Director of Structured Finance of Scotiabank, International Corporate and Commercial Banking Mr. Richard McCorkindale.