By John Denny
Nevis Reporter
(Charlestown, Nevis) – Members of the Nevis Island Authority met with representatives of the Organization of American States on May 9 to announce they had the final draft of the legal framework for the governance of Nevis’ geothermal resource.
“The draft is now at a stage where we are ready for comments and we are ready to go to parliament with it,” said Junior Minister Hon. Carlisle Powell in the Ministry of Communications, Works, Public Utilities, Post, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Environment. “We will finally have a bill that will be able to look after geothermal power for the people of Nevis.”
Patrice Nesbitt, legal advisor for the NIA, said there would be discussions with the various stakeholders of the geothermal resource to seek input on the bill before it finally goes to parliament. A major stakeholder is the developer, West Indies Power, which will wholesale the electricity to the local electrical utility, Nevlec. Nevlec will then retail the power to the people of Nevis. This legal framework is necessary to negotiate the power purchase agreement with West Indies Power.
“We will get some feedback from them and then we will proceed to parliament to make this bill a law,” said Mr. Nesbitt.
There was a question as to the involvement of the federal government in St. Kitts in regards to geothermal development on Nevis. Mr. Nesbitt said the original draft did mention a committee comprised partially of cabinet members from St. Kitts, but after talking to legal advice from OAS, decided Nevis could manage this resource on its own. He was adamant in his answer.
“Any geothermal resource bill has to be passed by the Nevis Island Assembly,” said Mr. Nesbitt. “We feel that we have the necessary legislative competence to pass the legislation. We in the (NIA) were clear, up front what our position was from day one. This is a Nevis matter and it will be dealt with exclusively by the people of Nevis.”
The first geothermal drilling site, Nevis One at Spring Hill has reached a depth of over 3,300 feet and the temperature at that depth is 500 degrees Farenheit, according to West Indies Power CEO Kerry McDonald.
