The Nevis project implementation commenced in January 2008 with an exploratory drilling programme.  Now into the production drilling phase, Dr McDonald confirms that drilling has already proceeded to depths of 2100 ft and has proven temperatures of 410 °F (210 °C), more than double the temperature required for geothermal electricity production.

During a recent tour of the project site with officials of the St Kitts Federal Government, the Nevis Island Administration, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the electricity providers on St Kitts and Nevis, WIPH officials explained that even though geothermal capability has been demonstrated, drilling will continue so that the optimum type and design of power plant can be determined.

WIPH is planning to be able to deliver power to Nevis and St Kitts by early 2009.  McDonald estimates that 200 to 300 MegaWatts (MW) of power could be available from the two sites currently being explored, and future plans include exploration work at two additional sites.

To put this amount of green electricity potential into context: St Kitts and Nevis have a combined electricity demand of 32 MW, while the combined demand of the three English speaking island nations – Antigua/Barbuda, Anguilla and Montserrat – within an 80 mile radius of Nevis, is less than 100 MW. 

Successful completion of the project will make Saint Kitts and Nevis the first country in the Caribbean to utilize large-scale geothermal energy for electricity production and one of the least fossil-fuel-dependent nations in the world.  Power generation accounts for the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions.

WIPH is a Caribbean-based IPP specializing in the development and operation of geothermal power plants and their offshoots. It is a Netherlands Antilles company with offices in Nevis and Dominica.

RELATED STORIES
St Kitts & Nevis federal government signs letter of intent to purchase Nevis geothermal energy
Dominica government signs 4 million euro grant for geothermal energy development
Nevis and West Indies Power commence power purchase negotiations for geothermal energy
West Indies Power (Nevis) Ltd confirms potential for hundreds of MW of geothermal power on Nevis
West Indies Power (Nevis) Ltd initiates CDM project certification
Geothermal exploration begins in Dominica
West Indies Power (Nevis) begins drilling second geothermal development well
Nevis moves closer to geothermal electricity production
Dominica signs agreement for geothermal energy exploration