Geothermal Conference – Nevis
The Opening remarks for the Eastern Caribbean Geothermal conference were given by Hon. Carlisle Powell. The article appears to have been written by the Government of Nevis and St. Kitts. There are two photos from the Conference, the first is of the Hon. Carlisle Powell and the second is of the invited Conference participants.(1) SKNVibes.com
“A 1998 study by the United States Department of Energy revealed that Nevis had the potential to produce 900
megawatts of power. Current statistics indicate that the island utilised only 6.5megawatts of energy and peaked at about 9 megawatts.” (This is a quote from the above linked article.)
The executive summary of that report is here, with a link to the full pdf file here. These links no longer work. The pdf file is over 200 pages and it is a database of all know geothermal sources. As soon as an alternative link is found it will be posted. This link: www.bl-a.com/ECB/PDFFiles/GeoResLAC.pdf may work. The Database of Geothermal Resources in Latin American & the Caribbean was compiled and built by Liz. Battocletti of Bob Lawrence et. al. If this website closes down, google this phrase: “Database of Geothermal Resources in Latin American & the Caribbean”.
Nevis is among 39 countries which could be 100% Geothermal Powered!
39 COUNTRIES WHICH COULD BE 100% GEOTHERMAL POWERED
Country Population
Bolivia 7,957,000
Burundi 6,457,000
Comoros Islands 658,000
Costa Rica 3,841,000
Djibouti 623,000
Dominica 71,000
Ecuador 12,175,000
El Salvador 6,032,000
Ethiopia 59,649,000
Fiji 796,000
Grenada 93,000
Guadeloupe 443,000
Guatemala 10.801,000
Honduras 6,147,000
Iceland 276,000
Indonesia 206,338,000
Kenya 29,008,000
Malagasy Republic 15,057,000
Malawi 10.346,000
Martinique 389,000
Montserrat 11,000 [this population is incorrect, it is much lower, with only half of the island inhabitable due to the continuing volcano crisis on Montserrat. Emphasis and comment added to text by author.]
Mozambique 18,880,000
Nicaragua 4,807,000
Panama 2,767,000
Papua New Guinea 4,600,000
Peru 24,797,000
Philippines 72,944,000
Rwanda 6,604,000
Solomon Islands 417,000
Somalia 9,237,000
St Kitts & Nevis 39,000
St. Lucia 150,000
St. Vincent 112,000
Sudan 28,292,000
Tanzania 32,102,000
Tonga 98,000
Uganda 20,554,000
Vanuatu 182,000
Yemen 16,887,000
TOTAL 620,637,000
Good for Nevis! Let’s hope that more countries on the above list follow Iceland and Nevis’ lead. New Zealand is currently rated at about 25% of power from Geothermal and this report estimates that about 50% of New Zealand’s power could come from Geothermal.
It is unfortunate that the World’s Press seems more interested in covering the lives, deaths and trials of famous people, rather than the boring details of Geothermal power. We should be seeing live blogging from this conference or twittering or one of the social networking we hear so much about.
[edited to add link for Caribbean region database.]
ThermaSource –
A sentence from a Montserrat Government press release published in The Montserrat Reporter:
A tremendous breakthrough has been achieved with the signing of a contract on Wednesday June 10, 2009, between the Government of Montserrat and EGS, Inc an American firm for Phase 2 of geothermal exploration on Island.(1)
A paragraph from a Reuters article:
EGS, Inc. provides a full range of geothermal exploration and development
services worldwide. With experience in water resources, hazardous waste, air
quality management, and renewable energy project development, EGS, Inc. is well
situated to assist with any geothermal needs. EGS, Inc. geologists have
extensive geothermal field experience, both domestically and internationally,
making EGS, Inc. the leading geothermal exploration services provider in the
United States. In April 2008, EGS, Inc. became a subsidiary of ThermaSource LLC,
a Santa Rosa, Calif. based geothermal drilling company. For more information,
please visit: www.thermasource.com. (2)
Three paragraphs from the ThermaSource company website:
http://www.thermasource.com/
“ThermaSource, LLC Completes $41.5 Million Private Equity Financing
ThermaSource LLC, one of the fastest growing providers of drilling, engineering and consulting services to the renewable geothermal energy sector, is pleased to report the completion of a new round of private equity financing, raising $41.5 million from Riverstone Holdings LLC, US Renewables Group, and Rustic Canyon Partners. ThermaSource is using these resources to finance the acquisition of geothermal drilling rigs and to develop the associated drilling services including engineering, mud-logging, cementing and exploration. The initial equity investment in February of 2007 by Riverstone and US Renewables Group was $20 million. To date, ThermaSource has raised $93 million of equity and debt over the past two years. The company expects to double employment, from 210 currently to more than 420 by the end of the year, as it expands operations domestically and internationally. “This equity investment represents a solid endorsement of our business strategy, which indicates we are delivering on our business plan and have established a platform for long term, sustained growth,” said Louis E. Capuano, Jr., president and CEO of ThermaSource LLC. For more information about ThermaSource, visit www.thermasource.com
About Riverstone Holdings LLC
Riverstone Holdings LLC and The Carlyle Group jointly sponsor the Riverstone/Carlyle energy funds. Riverstone, a New York-based energy and power-focused private equity firm founded in 2000, has approximately $13.7 billion under management. Riverstone conducts buyout and growth capital investments in the midstream, upstream, power, oilfield service, and renewable sectors of the energy industry. To date, the firm has committed $8.5 billion to more than 51 investments across each of these five sectors, involving $70 billion of assets.
The Carlyle Group is one of the world’s largest private equity firms, with over 60 funds across four investment disciplines (buyouts, venture & growth capital, real estate and leveraged finance) totaling more than $81.1 billion under management. Carlyle’s more than 575 investment professionals operate out of offices in 21 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East/North Africa and Latin America, covering a wide range of industries (aerospace & defense, automotive & transportation, consumer & retail, energy & power, healthcare, industrial, infrastructure, real estate, technology & business services and telecommunications & media).” (3)
Sources:
(1) http://www.themontserratreporter.com/index.pl/article_local?id=3235895
(2) http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS73827+04-May-2009+BW20090504
Eastern Caribbean Geothermal Conference
According to the CIPORE website Montserrat does NOT exist. The CIPORE website is the official source of information for the upcoming conference. Perhaps some non existent individuals from the non existent island of Montserrat will attend the Eastern Caribbean Geothermal Conference to be held in Nevis from 30 June to 2 July, 2009. Montserrat is not included in the list of place names on the right side of the CIPORE website, nor on the Conference main page.(1)
Think Energy’s website links to the CIPORE with the official Conference information. Montserrat does appear on the agenda with this little listing: “Session three will deal with the topic ‘Situation and Perspectives of Geothermal Development in Eastern Caribbean Countries’. The moderator will be Minister of Public Utilities, NIA Hon. Carlisle Powell, with presentations from the governments of Montserrat and Dominica.”
Background information about Montserrat’s current geothermal-political climate
In Montserrat Geothermal information seems to be a National SECRET. So there has been NO information FROM the Government Montserrat regarding exactly who is attending this conference and WHO is making this presentation in Montserrat’s name. Apparently the plan is to secretly drill and then secretly install a power plant and secretly hook up the power while the island is asleep. Montserrat is a COLONY of the UK. Due to the “volcano crisis” the island is under the complete control of the Governor, who is an appointee of the British who oversee this island. ALL control over any development of Geothermal power appears to be under the thumb of the Governor and of DFID - UK Department for International Development. Perhaps it is Montserrat status as a colony of England is why Montserrat is not listed on CIPORE’s website? The Governor of Montserrat changes every three years. Every three years a new civil servant (appointed Governor) arrives on island and has to learn all about living with a live volcano and the intricacies of local island politics. (Hopefully one day this satirical statement can be retracted — when the geothermal plans and progress in Montserrat becomes transparent and open to public review.)
The Conference website is hosted by CIPORE, which stands for Caribbean Information Platform on Renewable Energy. This website is registered to an individual listing an address in Jamacia. A footnote on this website says: “CIPORE is the premiere portal for renewable energy information in the Caribbean”.
Ironically “Montserrat” appears nowhere on the index page of the CIPORE website. Even a search of the page yields “Phrase not found”. Montserrat is not on the list of participating countries either.
According to the official conference website this is what will be covered at the conference:
• “State-of-the-art” geothermal exploration and exploitation
• Situation & perspectives of geothermal development in the Eastern Caribbean
• Challenges & opportunities for geothermal development in the Eastern Caribbean: proposals for a New Agenda
• Geothermal exploration and development in Nevis (includes field trip)
• Training opportunities in geothermal
There is no charge for participation in this Conference however participation is by invitation only.”
Think GeoEnergy has a decent summary of the topics that the Eastern Caribbean Geothermal Conference will cover.
Missing in the planned AGENDA of the Eastern Caribbean Geothermal Conference is any mention of Mineral mining of the geothermal brine. Secrets like this won’t stay under wraps for long. The fact that Kerry McDonald holds a patent for a process to extract minerals from geothermal brine was discovered using a google search. Kerry McDonald is the CEO of the company in charge of the Geothermal project on Nevis: “Financing the Project” will be presented by Financial Controller of West Indies Power Nevis Ltd. Mr. Dima Apockinas while the Company’s Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kerry Mc Donald and General Manager Mr. Rawlinson Isaac will speak about the company.” (click on underlined link and then go to the bottom of the article to see the context of the above quote.)
The people of Montserrat really need to be kept in the geothermal information loop.
Sources
(1) CIPORE stands for Caribbean Information Platform on Renewable energy
http://cipore.org/1st-eastern-geothermal-conference-2009/
(2) DFID – UK Department for International Development
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/About-DFID/
(3) http://thinkgeoenergy.com/archives/1871
Eastern Caribbean 2006 Geothermal meeting
The link below lists topics and participants at the —-
Eastern Caribbean Geothermal Energy Project (Geo-Caraïbes)
Stakeholder Consultation
Roseau, Dominica – 2006 (1)
http://www.oas.org/dsd/reia/Documents/geo-caraibes.html
The list of participants and islands represented are similar to the list of 2004 (link at right in blog roll). Cuba was included in the 2006 conference.
Guadeloupe with the granddaddy of Geothermal plants in the Caribbean was also represented at this meeting.
Gerald W. Huttrer, Geothermal Management Company, Inc had a presentation on: Geothermal Potential of St. Kitts and Nevis Islands.
Dominica had two separate presentations: Geothermal Project and Dominica Geothermal Exploration was presented Dr. Simon Young.
Saint Lucia also had a presentation.
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One of the Eastern Caribbean Island with geothermal potential is missing — MONTSERRAT! Notice that Dr. Simon Young was at this conference, so surely Montserrat wasn’t accidentally forgotten. Dr. Simon Young was the first director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, at the very beginning of Montserrat’s Volcano “crisis”.
If we remember our history — way back in 2006 there was an election in Montserrat and just before that election the Committee for the Redevelopment of Montserrat (CRM) discovered that the elected Government of Montserrat had negotiated (but not yet signed) a contract with Dr. Kerry McDonald. After strong protests by citizens the contract was not signed. It was argued by the CRM that the contract was unfair to Montserrat. This is the second time that this blog has covered the 2006 pre-election Geothermal episode. (See Nevis and Geothermal article below for more details.)
WHY wasn’t Montserrat represented at this 2006 Geothermal conference?
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In 1999 Montserrat was mentioned in this document: Geothermal Small power generation opportunities in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean Sea, by Gerald W. Huttrer, Geothermal Management Company, Inc. Frisco, Colorado. Huttrer, who attended the 2006 Caribbean Geothermal conference wrote:
“Montserrat – Even before the 1995 eruptions, the southwest-
ern flank of the Soufrière Hills volcano was the site of solfataric
activity and of numerous thermal springs. There was also sig-
nificant seismic activity and several well developed fracture
systems transecting the volcano.” (2)
**********************************
In a paper published in March 2008, Erouscilla P. Joseph (Seismic Research Unit, University of the West Indie) wrote:
Montserrat
Geothermal Sites / Projects:
•Montserrat has an estimated 940
MWe of geothermal power
potential.
•Even before the 1995 eruption,
the southwestern flank of the
Soufrière Hills Volcano was the
site of solfataric activity and of
numerous thermal springs.
•There was also significant
seismic activity, and several
well developed fracture systems
transecting the volcano (Huttrer,
1998 (3)**************************************************
Sources:
(1) http://www.oas.org/dsd/reia/Documents/geo-caraibes.html
(2) http://geoheat.oit.edu/bulletin/bull20-2/art4.pdf
(3) http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sids/2008_roundtable/presentation/energy_joseph.pdf
Geothermal Energy Potential in the Caribbean Region, Erouscilla P. Joseph, Seismic Research Unit, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad
Nevis in the news
This quote below is from a news item from the Virgin Islands.
“The studies concluded that Nevis has a potential for approximately 900 megawatts of geothermal energy,” said Carlisle Powell, a junior minister with the Nevis government. “To put this into context, our present electricity base load is approximately 6.5 megawatts; we peak around nine megawatts.” (1)
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The question we might ask ourselves after reading that quote might be:
Nevis is approximately 35 square miles, how large and how many “foot prints” of geothermal power plant would it take to produce 900 MW of electrical power?
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Let us compare New Zealand and Nevis.
New Zealand is comprised of two large islands and has a land mass of 103,738 sq mi (2). “Geothermal power in New Zealand is a small but significant part of the energy generation capacity of the country, providing approximately 10% of the country’s electricity with installed capacity approaching 600 MW. . . . New Zealand, like only a small number of other countries worldwide, has numerous geothermal sites that could be developed for exploitation, and also boasts some of the earliest large-scale use of geothermal energy in the world.” (3)
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Geothermal power plants are getting smaller with each generation of power plant. Guadalupe, an island south of Montserrat and Nevis has been generating some of their power from Geothermal since 1986 and they have added a second power plant which is much smaller than the first power plant. (4)
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New Zealand's Ohaaki Power Station
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Sources
(1) http://www.onepaper.com/stthomasvi/?v=d&i=&s=News:Local&p=1243829769
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand#Geography_and_environment
(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_New_Zealand
(4) http://www.harvestcleanenergy.org/conference/HCE6/Bloomquist.pdf
Half chemical plant – Half geothermal power plant
The hot water from deep in t
he earth used to run the geothermal power contains more than water. One the main minerals in the geothermal well water is silica. Pipes are a high replacement item in geothermal power plants, in a short period of time the pipes interior becomes encrusted with silica. [Source (1)– Russian Geothermal plant – photos of cross section of pipe.]
Silica is a mineral commonly found dissolved in water emerging from deep Geothermal wells.
This is an example of a pipe with silica scaling – this is from the geothermal brine. Testing of pipes and replacement of pipes in one of the major costs of geothermal plants. Silica is a major head ache for many geothermal plants worldwide.“The world-wide demand for silica is over 3 million kilograms of commercial grade silica per day. “ (1) Silica has many uses including manufacturing computer microchips.
Other minerals found in geothermal brine: “Lithium (batteries), Manganese (EDM used in dry cell batteries), Zinc, Cesium, Rubidium, Rare Earths, Precious Metals (Gold, Silver, platinum, and palladium). “Not only are these metals often available in significant quantities in geothermal brine, they provide a new and important source of such mineral produced through solution mining in an environmentally responsible manner.” (1)
Minerals from Geothermal brine – who owns the resources? “Mineral rights represent the legal rights to explore for and produce the resources below the surface. Ownership of mineral rights give the right to extract many valuable commodities such as gold, silver, uranium, copper, nickel, palladium, aluminum, iron, lead, molybdenum, platinum, tungsten, zinc, and diamonds.” (2) [This quote is about US law, Ownership of mineral right varies from country to country.]
Simbol Mining Corporation, a new company, which has found a way to make money from what was once a waste product.
Simbol Mining Corp.
Location: Texas, US
Speaker: Luka Erceg
Title: President and Founder
Primary Industry: Extraction of metals from effluent streams
Executive Summary: Simbol Mining Corp., founded in February, 2007, will be the first and leading producer of commodity minerals and metals from geothermal, oil and gas, and other brines. The company will employ proven technologies in a novel manner to extract metals such as lithium, zinc, manganese, silver and others. The first of Simbol Mining’s technologies is an exclusive license to patented silica extraction technology from the Department of Energy, and other core technologies are freely available. Initially, the company will partner with leading geothermal power producers to become the low-cost producer of minerals and metals from geothermal brines. The company expects to reach $350 million in revenues within five years primarily from lithium production, with an aggregate world market potential of $3 billion by 2015. These revenues will arise from exclusive mineral rights contracts with geothermal developers. Simbol Mining is seeking $5 million in seed and early stage venture capital to develop bench and pilot scale metal extraction facilities. (4)
Learning from Hawaii
Future blog entries will review Hawaii’s experience with geothermal, here’s an example of what Montserrat might be able to learn from Hawaii.
What happens if lava covers geothermal wells??
Hot hazard
The continual threat of ecological devastation by earthquakes and lava flows is real, Mizuno said. Situated on a high hill, PGV’s plant is somewhat protected. However its well fields are located in the low-lying areas on the East Rift Zone, near the resource. One of the most valuable assets are the wells, which have additional cover. Each well is contained in a concrete bunker about 25 feet below that can be closed off.
From the well’s bottom to the top, there is a series of valves that workers can turn off and control the flow of geothermal fluids to surface. In the event of a lava flow, valves are closed, the pipe to the plant cut, the bunker filled with gravel and a steel plate placed over the well, which has been identified with the global positioning system.
The lava covers everything up, but the well remains protected. Once the danger is past, PGV would only have to drill down to the steel plate, remove the gravel and hook up to the valves to start flowing again. (3)
Sources:
(1) Mineral Extraction:
Results from International Conferences
Geothermal Resources Council
Reno, Nevada
October 5-8, 2008
R. Gordon Bloomquist, Ph.D.
Washington State University Energy Program, Retired
Konstantin O. Povarov, Ph.D.
Association Geothermal Energy Society, Russian Federation
One of the reasons for the conference: To determine issues critical to commercializing mineral extraction as an economically valuable component of the geothermal industry.
Abstract of the Conference: www.gesa.ru/eng/seminars.asp
The Russian Geothermal Society has now assembled all of the papers and they are now available on the web at
www.geotherm.ru/pub/.
Included are papers on:
• Silica scaling and treatment
• Extraction of minerals such as Lithium,
Manganese, Zinc and Rare Earths
• Economics, etc.
(2) http://www.mineralrightsleasing.com/what-are-mineral-rights.aspx
(3) http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2008/06/15/local/local01.txt
(4) http://www.techconnect.org/Summit2008/program/showabstract.html?absno=22038
Nevis in the news
As Nevis hosts a Geothermal Conference the Caribbean at the end of June, the world is watching this Caribbean island’s progress toward Green energy. One headline on an Eco-friendly website sort of says it all: Converting a Volcanic Island into a Giant Power Plant. As residents of other Caribbean islands look at their steeply increasing power bills they are looking and hoping that this time the promise of cheap inexpensive abundant energy at affordable prices will be more than a science fiction story. Islands as far away as Puerto Rico are hoping that Nevis will have power to share.
According to SKNVibes.com: “sponsorship [for the conference on Nevis] had also been secured from companies that were directly related to various aspects of the geothermal development on Nevis.” Companies on this list are: NEXAN (the company laying cables), Turbo Care (part of the Siemen’s group, charged with construction of the Geothermal power plant), TIC Global (project Managers).
Not to put a hole in someone’s hope balloon but getting the surplus power to other islands will take time and planning. The Geothermal power on Nevis will have to prove that it is reliable and that the plants can remain in operations without glitches for a reasonable time frame. Then very special undersea cables need to be run from Nevis to contracting islands. This will involve a whole lot of Caribbean lawyers and negotiations, studies and planning. It has been known for several decades that there is Geothermal potential on several Caribbean islands and not much has been done with that information. This basically was the message from the 2004 Caribbean Conference, linked at the right in the “blog roll”.
The other potential player in the Geothermal export game would be Montserrat, and it all depends on how well this island’s volcano behaves so that the suspected pockets of super heated water can be tapped for Geothermal power. The fact is that many people now realize that oil is becoming far too expensive to be used to fuel generators for island power sources. Now is the time to find and use alternative sources of energy. Wind and Tide/Current are potential power sources. The Atlantic Ocean hits Montserrat’s east side, separates and circles the island — which could be harnessed using some of the advanced wave and tidal research going on world wide.
Nevis has some competing political parties and some opposition members are not as pleased as the current elected legislators are with their Geothermal project. “CCM [Nevis political party] has attacked with such venom everything regarding geothermal, instead of educating their supporters that it is indeed a good thing and that they should wish the project well.” Writes, Ron Daniel in The Green Revolution.
Mark Brantley has an alternative view regarding Geothermal power under the direction the NRP party.
I am also concerned that this NRP led Administration is hyping the prospects of geothermal to such a significant degree that Nevis may well become a laughing stock regionally if we cannot ultimately find the resource or find it in such quantities to make a real difference. It astonished me that before a single kilowatt of power is generated for the consumption of the people of Brown Hill or Barnes Ghaut, this NRP is already telling Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba and the USVI that Nevis will supply them with power. The cost alone of the undersea cables required to transmit power from Nevis to any of the surrounding islands will be tremendous. I am very afraid that Nevis may not be able to live up to the incredible hype being generated by this NRP.
Prudence would seem to dictate that we as a Government and as a people temper the expectations. That we explore this incredible resource and first seek to find it; then to harness it; then to exploit it for the benefit of the people of Nevis. We must first exploit this resource for the maximum benefit of the people of Nevis and then and only then can we sensibly talk about supplying power to neighbouring islands. Let us first make sure that we can access the resource before we start running around the Caribbean like buffoons boasting of solving the power woes of the Eastern Caribbean when we have not yet generated a single kilowatt of power for our own people.
I wish the exploration well and hope to see the CCM and Michael Perkins’ vision of clean, cheap sustainable power for Nevis realized as soon as possible. I also look forward to full disclosure as to the deal with West Indies Power so that we can assess how this exciting resource has been handled by the NRP Government. I also recommend highly that we seek to reengage the experts at the OAS and other international agencies which lends demonstrably to the transparency of the project. Above all I caution prudence and common sense in our approach so that we do not excite expectations to a degree that is unsupported by a resource that has yet to be found far less harnessed and exploited. Let us find power for the people of Nevis first before we trumpet to the surrounding islands that Nevis will solve their power problems. Let us ask our Government to temper its pronouncements before it renders Nevis a laughingstock for the region.
And then there is that VOLCANO on Nevis. That will be one of the wild cards — as Montserrat has learned all too well.
Nevis & Geothermal
It might be educational to plot the progress of Nevis Island’s move toward Geothermal Electrical power. Nevis is Montserrat’s neighbor on the west. Guadeloupe, Montserrat’s southern neighbor, already has at least two Geothermal Electrical power plants in operation.
Using Google and the search words, Nevis Geothermal, we get 57,000 hits in a few seconds. The first hit is called “Nevis Geothermal Energy Exploration” from 2007.
Earlier this month Chief Executive Officer of West Indies Power Nevis Ltd. Mr. Kerry Mc Donald accompanied by General Manager Mr. Rawlinson Isaac and Duke University geothermal expert Mr. Reed Malin invited Minister of Powell and his Permanent Secretary, Mr. Ernie Stapleton, to the Bush Hill fault where exploration work for geothermal energy was ongoing.
“We are pleased to say that we have discovered geothermal resources in five places on the island and the drilling will begin in October on these. Based on that drilling we believe that come mid 2008, that the power plant, the initial temporary power plant for about 6 megawatts will be installed and will be in operation.” 26 September 07
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The next Nevis Geothermal news is more recent 19 May 09 (click the date on the left for the full article).
“Nevis’ Geothermal Agreement designed to put money into Island’s coffers”. According to the article Nevis will recieve 5% of Gross revenue from the developers of Geothermal power on Nevis. But there is also a 25 year tax holiday being granted to the developers of Geothermal in Nevis. At the same time the Government of Nevis was able to obtain a stock option of 10% for the people of Nevis.
This article rises more questions about the ownership of Geothermal power in Nevis. Evidently the Government of Nevis does not own the power company? Does the Government of Nevis have any input or control over the corporations which perhaps now owns Geothermal power in Nevis??
The next story from the Google search deals with Nevis plan to host a East Caribbean Geothermal Conference.
“Nevis will play host to a geothermal conference in two weeks at the Mount Nevis Hotel from June 30- July 02, the first of its kind to be held in the Eastern Caribbean.”
Fans of Montserrat are asking: “Will Montserrat be represented at this conference?”
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NOW the question for Google is how many hits will we get when we pair “Montserrat + Geothermal”?
There were 20,000 fewer hits — for example we these paragraphs found this: link
Montserrat Geothermal Investigations Move To Second Phase
Investigations of Montserrat’s geothermal energy potential moved to their second phase last week with the signing on Wednesday of a contract between the government of Montserrat and EGS, Inc., an American firm specializing in geological exploration with an emphasis on the evaluation of renewable energy resources.
The contract is for the execution of phase 2 of geothermal exploration on the island, under a project funded by the British Department for International Development (DFID).
In January 2008, DFID approved a budget of up to approximately £800,000 to fund a phased geothermal evaluation process consisting of:
1. Phase 1: Scoping survey to define the scope of the further investigations required;
2. Phase 2: Geophysical, geological and geochemical investigations culminating in
recommendations for locations, size and depths for investigatory drilling;
3. Phase 3: Small diameter test drilling to attempt to prove the geothermal resource
The phase 2 exploration activities are scheduled to take place in areas around Cork Hill, Richmond Hill, Foxes Bay and Sturge Park.”
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Now let’s take a few steps back in time, thanks to the power of the Internet.
The past history of Montserrat involvement in Geothermal also showed up in the Google search. Remember way back in 2006 in Montserrat there was an election. It was discovered by citizens that a Geothermal agreement was going to be signed by the current Government of Montserrat and a Geothermal Development company. Link here. There were well attended meetings held all over the island. The original story at the link above was by Karen “Lioness” Allen.
BRADES, Montserrat: Right on the brink of a new election, the current government of Montserrat is now being accused of fostering an agreement that is being referred to by members of the public as a ‘criminal sellout’ of the country’s natural resources.
In early March, angry members of the public gathered at the Ministry of Communication & Works. Their purpose was to confront the man responsible for, and rumored to be about to sign a contract between the Government of Montserrat and the West Indian Power Ltd (WIPL), owned by Kerry McDonald.
The objective of this contract is to develop Montserrat’s geothermal energy. The protestors’ biggest concern was the agreement to grant a 25-year monopoly for the exploitation and use of Montserrat’s geothermal energy in return for royalties amounting to four percent of gross revenues.
Upon arrival to work, Minister of Communications & Works, John Wilson, was bombarded with an array of questions and emotionally underlined allegations.(The rest of the article can be found at this link).
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Oh! Montserrat does indeed have a history with Kerry McDonald, the developer of Geothermal on Nevis. The power of the Internet and simple words used to compare two islands is most educational!
If we look at the agreement that Nevis so masterfully negotiated with the developers of Geothermal on Nevis we can see that it is nearly identical to the deal that the former officials of the Government of Montserrat ALMOST signed way back in 2006.
Click on the links above and you will see the history of Nevis and Montserrat’s steps toward Geothermal power are archived on the Internet. Those of us who attended the meetings on Montserrat back in 2006 remember well the deal that almost was signed. No wonder the name Kerry McDonald sounded so familiar to many of us.
Perhaps the slow turtle like progress that Montserrat seems to be making toward Geothermal power is the surer route to eventual success?
YOU can be sure that we will be following the developments of Geothermal on BOTH Montserrat and Nevis.
First Progress Report
The Contract to begin the survey for Geothermal Sources on Montserrat has been signed!! This was reported on ZJB radio in Montserrat.
Montserrat is a Caribbean Island in an chain of islands or arch of islands. Islands surrounding Montserrat: Antigua, Nevis, St. Kitts and to the south Guadeloupe.
Montserrat is a colony of Britain, or what is known in the UK as an Overseas Dependent Territory. Montserrat’s neighboring island of Nevis has surveyed for sources of Geothermal power generation and is supposed be well underway toward their objective of electrical power from Geothermal wells.
Geothermal is as close to “GREEN” power as possible. A well is drilled into a deep underground source of trapped water, the HOT water comes to the surface and is sent into a power generation plant (YouTube links are coming). The cooled water is returned to the earth (via another well). So that eventually the water will be reused.
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