by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—The Nevis Geothermal Project has hit its final pre-mobilisation milestone following a successful independent acceptance inspection of its massive 272-metric-tonne Drillmec HH-300 “Týr” rig in Iceland.
This clears the way for the equipment to be shipped by sea to Nevis, with drilling operations expected to kick off within the next 60 days.
The critical safety and quality assessment took place from August 24 to 28 at the Iceland Drilling Company facility.
Conducted by UK-based specialists Scotia Drilling Consultants, the review covered the rig’s structural, mechanical, operational, and safety systems.
Nevis Premier Hon. Mark Brantley during his August 25, 2026 press conferenceOfficials from the Nevis Electricity Company Limited (NEVLEC) were on-site to build technical capacity and knowledge for managing the upcoming drilling phase.
“The final precondition for mobilisation of the drill rig to Nevis is an inspection of that drill rig and that inspection is currently underway in Iceland and it is being done by a company called Scotia Drilling Consultants. It’s a UK-based specialist in rig inspection. NEVLEC, which is the implementing agency, the Nevis Electricity Company, is also represented in in Iceland by General Manager Nelson Stapleton and by Neftali Erar, the project coordinator. Once this drill rig inspection is completed, then it would mean that we have now done all that is necessary in order to move this to the next phase, which is the actual mobilisation of the rig to the island of Nevis.”
Civil engineering for the well pad at the Hamilton site will be executed by the Icelandic firm COWI.
The Nevis Island Administration (NIA) has already remitted US$6 million to advance the work.
“In addition, I would wish to announce that soil testing and the technical work at the site has actually commenced this week here on the island of Nevis. That is important in relation to the well pad construction. As I understand it, the drill rig, when it comes, has to sit on something called a well pad and it sits on that pad and that is how the drilling setup is done. Now, civil works for the well pad will be done by a company called COWI, C-O-W-I, and that too is a company from Iceland and that company will be supervised by Icelandic drilling. So I say that I believe these are significant milestones that we have achieved.
We have remitted somewhere close to six million U.S. dollars to Icelandic Drilling.”
The project aims to tap into what experts call the “seventh best geothermal resource in the world” to power a planned 30-megawatt plant, radically slashing the Federation’s reliance on imported fossil fuels.
Meanwhile, regional momentum is building as a high-level delegation from St. Martin visited the island to explore future cross-border clean energy cooperation.
Premier of Nevis the Honourable Mark Brantley (back right) with the Honourable Louis Mussington, President of the Territorial Council of Saint Martin (back left) with his delegation and officials from NEVLEC during a visit to the Prospect Power Plant on August 30, 2026The visible progress has sparked intense regional interest.
“The leader of Saint Martin will be visiting the federation and his desire is of engaging in discussions surrounding geothermal and whether Saint Martin can ultimately get energy from Nevis as well. I say that to say that this project is garnering significant regional and international attention.”
A delegation led by Louis Mussington, President of the Territorial Council of Saint Martin, as part of a formal visit to the Federation, arrived to evaluate how Nevis’ resources could supply green power to neighbouring Caribbean territories.
On August 30, 2026, guided by Nevis Premier Hon. Mark Brantley, the delegation toured the Hamilton geothermal site and the NEVLEC Power Plant at Prospect.
President Mussington registered St. Martin’s official interest in off-taking clean energy. Discussions parallel dialogues with Antigua and Barbuda, positioning Nevis to evolve into a green energy hub for the Eastern Caribbean.
