From Caribbean360

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas says the twin-island Federation will receive assistance from the US-based Clinton Foundation to improve efforts in developing the renewable energy sector.

He says he expects the collaboration will help reduce the island’s dependence on fossil fuel as well as leading to cheaper rates for consumers of electricity.

“We are dependent upon the importation of petroleum products, diesel in particular from which we generate electricity…Diesel is imported from overseas. Diesel has been having a very unstable climb in the price. The price keeps going up and up and up. Very few opportunities for it to come down,” he said.

“The more the price of the diesel goes up, the more the price of the diesel goes up, the more it costs us to generate electricity, and thus the fuel charge on your electricity bill will be higher.

“It means then you have to pay more money for the use of electricity. That is not sustainable. The continuing high price of electrify is not sustainable. It means, it can’t continue forever. It’s going to create serious problems for us,” Dr. Douglas said on his weekly radio programme “Ask the Prime Minister.”

He told listeners that a team of experts from the foundation is due to arrive here later this month for discussions with the various stakeholders here.

“They’re going to look at where we’ve reached so far in removing ourselves from the dependence on fossil-based energy or diesel energy. They’re going to look at how much the Taiwanese have done so far in assisting us in the creation of a solar energy farm, and their promised assistance with another two megawatt farm down there at the agro tourism project.

“”They’re going to be looking at the prospects for wind energy that we’ve been working on for some time with the North Star Company. They’re going to be looking at how we dispose of our waste, and maybe how we might be able to work closely on a new project to convert waste into energy or electricity.”

Dr. Douglas said he is also hoping that the assistance from the Clinton Foundation would extend to the development of the geothermal sector in St. Kitts-Nevis.

“They will provide technical support for the sister island of Nevis, the Nevis Island Administration, with regard to their geothermal energy project that has been ongoing for some years, but which seems to have been stalled.”

He said the Foundation would also “look at the potential for the island of St. Kitts to also generate geothermal energy and thus revolutionize our dependence on fossil fuel energy in St. Kitts and Nevis and bring us into a new realm where there would be green energy, cheaper energy, sustainable energy and this will impact on the cost of generating electricity and the consumers then would pay less for their electricity use.”

Prime Minister Douglas says the initiative is in keeping with his administration’s efforts to develop a green economy in St. Kitts-Nevis.

For more on this story go to:: http://www.caribbean360.com/business/clinton-foundation-to-assist-st-kitts-nevis-with-renewable-energy-initiatives#ixzz2z9VccloX