Nevis, West Indies. ?A Non-Tourist-Trap? Blog About Nevis.

Nevis, West Indies’ Premier - Joseph Parry

Charlestown, Nevis
February 26, 2010

Politics, geothermal energy and crime were a few of many issues the Premier of Nevis, Hon. Joseph Parry discussed on a pre recorded interview for the Caribbean Media Cooperation’s (CMC) Newsmakers with host Kaymar Jordan earlier this week in Barbados.

During the interview, Ms. Jordan enquired about the appointment of the Hon. Patrice Nisbett as Attorney General of St. Kitts/Nevis; whether or not the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) had canvassed for the appointment and what it meant for Nevis.

“Nevis has never canvassed for the appointment of the Attorney General. There are two key points that are needed to be looked at one; being political devolution and two; get corporate taxes paid in Nevis,” the Premier responded.

According to the Premier, the Attorney General was now in a position to guide the Federal Government into devolution of power for Nevis, which in turn would grant the island the tools necessary to obtain authority on certain matters for instance education, police and tax collection.

In discussing Geothermal, Premier Parry informed Ms. Jordan that geothermal energy development continued to move forward and the financial end of the project has been finalised. With regard to crime, Premier Parry noted that his Administration continued to work very closely with the Police.

“We have a short term and a long term plan. The long term plan has to do with education and training within the schools from Kindergarten up to Secondary School in an effort to end gang activity by informing that it is insignificant to be part of a gang and to also let the children know that family values and love of neighbor are much more important,” he said.

In addition, the Premier stated that his Administration continued to construct barracks in various areas in Nevis, in order to house more policemen on the island in a comfortable setting.

He also noted that with the help of the Taiwanese Government, close circuit television cameras were being placed in strategic areas on the island to assist with the crime fighting efforts.  He spoke of the expansion of the K9 Unit and police vehicles on the island.

Mr. Parry further noted that the former Administration’s accomplishment to assist the Police, in their fight against crime was minimal.

“The only thing that the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) did to alleviate crime in Nevis during their 14 years in government was to start a police station which the NRP had to finish,” said Mr. Parry.

The Premier also discussed matters related to the Caricom Single Market Economy (CSME) which included immigration and the sport of Cricket.

The episode of Newsmakers with the Hon. Joseph Parry will be aired in Nevis on Sunday, Feb. 28th on Caribvision channel 62 at 6:00 p.m. It will be rebroadcast on Tuesday, March 2nd.

Premier Parry had been invited to be a guest on Newsmakers in early January but due to the impending Federal Elections on January 25th, the engagement was rescheduled to February.

Related posts:

1. Nevis Premier meets With Prospective Investors For Geothermal Project
2. Nevis Premier Speaks To Nationals About Geothermal Power
3. Nevis Premier Discusses Geothermal Energy At NEVCAN
4. Nevis Premier Speaks About Iceland Trip
5. Nevis Premier To Be On Regional Television

Drilling at Nevis1 Geothermal Site

Charlestown, Nevis
February 22, 2010

Nevis continues to be at the forefront of renewable energy development in the Caribbean, an achievement Junior Minister with responsible for Natural Resources and the Environment Hon. Carlisle Powell said the Nevis Island Government was proud of.

Mr. Powell’s statement came on Wednesday during a field visit with other members of Cabinet, to the site of the Maddens Wind Farm, a development by WindWatt (Nevis Ltd.), a family owned and operated wind energy developer based in Canada.

“We have had a tremendous amount of talk from St. Lucia, St. Vincent from St. Kitts even where they are planning an 8 megawatt wind farm but to the best of my knowledge there is none which has actually started. In Nevis we have done more than start we have the equipment on site we have laid out the site already so we are on the way.

“Once again Nevis is leading and we are quite happy to lead. Of course I should also add that the WindWatt Group they have always expressed the desire to expand not only within Nevis in terms of expanding the farm in Nevis to produce more power but they are also keen to expand to other islands,” he told the Department of Information in an interview.

According to Mr. Powell, renewable energy was something that the whole world was showing renewed interest in and the Nevis Island Administration was pleased to be positioned to be able to add wind into the geothermal mix to be able to speedily reduce the use of fossil fuels.

In July 14th, 2009, the NIA had granted WindWatt permission to harness wind energy for the provision of 1.1 megawatts of renewable power to the Nevis Electricity Company Ltd. (NEVLEC) by mid 2010.

Commenting on the progress of the wind farm, Mr. Powell said the NIA was pleased with the ongoing work and it had gone as well as they were informed it would be.

“We now anticipate that the pads would be laid, that the full length of the turbine all 55 meters will be installed and that the gear and the housing mechanism will be placed. That by June we will be able to have testing completed and we will have the 1.1 megawatts of power into the NEVLEC grid, so that the whole of Nevis would be able to enjoy the wind farm and wind power,” he said.

In response to a question on the impact of wind energy on the existing fuel surcharge, Mr. Powell explained that there would be some benefit since the wind turbines did not have to rely on fossil fuel to produce energy.

“With wind energy, it is a renewable form of energy we don’t have to use any oils to produce the power. So what it means is that with 1.1 megawatts, we have a base load of about a little over 6 megawatts of power so it means wind would be contributing about 1/6th of the base load in Nevis

“So what it technically means is that we will be able to reduce the fuel surcharge on that portion of renewable energy, which does not by its nature, attract a fuel surcharge. So it means that we should be able to see some lowering in terms of the price for electricity which would be seen in savings in the fuel surcharge,” he said.

Related posts:

1. Nevis Island’s Renewable Energy Project Promising
2. Renewable Energy Development On Nevis Must Continue
3. Nevis Government Hosts Renewable Energy Workshop
4. Nevis Pleased With Results For Renewable Energy And Water
5. St. Kitts - Nevis Looks At Proposal To Develop Wind Power

Geothermal Borehole At Hamilton Estate

Charlestown, Nevis
October 14, 2009

The company responsible for the development of geothermal power on Nevis stated categorically, that operations on the island had not been linked to any seismic activity and none should be expected as in the recent experiences in Germany and Switzerland.

In a press release dated October 13, 2009 from West Indies Power’s (WIP) Media Manager Mrs. Lali Diaz-McDonald, the company contended that there were incorrect comparisons made between the geothermal development on Nevis and elsewhere in the USA and Europe.

“Recently there has been incorrect comparing of the reservoir system existing on Nevis and being developed by West Indies Power and the hot dry rock or Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) geothermal projects in California, Germany and in Base, Switzerland which were suspected of causing seismic events.

“These are two different types of geothermal reservoir systems that are developed in totally different ways and respond to development differently,” Mrs. Lali Diaz-McDonald said.

The Media Manager further explained in the release that during an EGS operation, attempts are made to create an artificial geothermal reservoir and solid rock would be fractured to create paths which would allow the geothermal solution to flow.

“The procedure to create these fractures is done by pumping pressurised water into the hot dry rocks that cause the rocks to shatter. This procedure has the possibility of releasing large amounts of energy that could cause earthquakes. There is currently no large scale commercial production from any EGS operation.

“The geothermal reservoir systems that West Indies Power is developing in Nevis and other parts of the Caribbean are naturally occurring hydrothermal systems. There are currently over 10,000MW’s of commercial geothermal production from this type of geothermal reservoirs in 24 countries,” Mrs. Diaz-McDonald explained.

She said in the hydrothermal reservoir systems all the fractures within the rocks had occurred naturally and no artificial fractures were required. Therefore there was no release of energy to cause earthquakes as was likely to occur in the EGS project.

The WIP release further stated that continuous geothermal production from naturally occurring hydrothermal systems was nothing new and had been in operation since 1902.

Mrs. Diaz-McDonald also stated that the entities which monitored seismic activity in Nevis and the rest of the Caribbean had shown no seismic event with an epicentre between St. Kitts and Nevis and dismissed claims that seismic activity in the area had been linked to the geothermal programme which commenced on Nevis in January 2008.

“No correlation has ever been made by any of the entities that monitor seismic activity in the Caribbean. The University of the West Indies Seismic Unit, the United States Geological Survey, the Montserrat Volcano Observatory and the French Volcano Observatory on Guadeloupe all have seismic monitors located throughout the Caribbean.

“These monitors detect the size and location of seismic events in the Caribbean on a daily basis. There has been no reported seismic event with an epicentre between St. Kitts and Nevis,” the press release said.

Related posts:

1. CARICOM Shows Support For Nevis’ Geothermal Project
2. Saba Eyes Nevis Island Geothermal Project
3. Geothermal Drilling Not The Cause Of Nevis Earthquakes
4. Nevis Geothermal Energy Project To Provide Jobs
5. CARICOM Official Impressed With Nevis’ Geothermal Development