Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 06, 2022 (SKNIS): Energy Officer in the St. Kitts Energy Unit, Denasio Frank stressed that geothermal energy in the Federation has the potential to provide full energy coverage.
Mr. Frank explained this during a recent interview.
“In early surface studies, we have found 18 to 36 megawatts of potential energy in St. Kitts in the North Western region of the island from Lamberts to Newton Ground. Based on the potential, we are looking at between 18 to 36-megawatt and the project we are looking at is somewhere between a 10 to a 15-megawatt plant which could cover at least the base load which is the lowest amount of energy required for St. Kitts,” stated Mr. Frank.
Geothermal has one of the highest availability of all renewable energies. He added that solar and wind are intermittent, meaning that it is not available every time of the day. “With geothermal, you are getting over 90 percent of availability which means that a majority of your resources you can convert to electricity,” said Mr. Frank.
He added that Nevis has an even higher potential for geothermal energy. “In Nevis, they did their drilling so they have confirmed at least 400-megawatt potential. They are working on a plant between nine (9) and 10 megawatts and their demand in Nevis is about nine megawatts, so that definitely covers their base load.”
Mr. Frank also spoke about the benefits of geothermal energy to the Federation. He said that geothermal plants have very low operations and maintenance costs and because of this factor, he assures that it will benefit St. Kitts and Nevis in the long run.
Mr. Frank indicated that because of the potential of the Federation, adding a geothermal plant would help the Federation achieve its goal of 100 percent renewable energy by 2030.
