by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—Premier Hon. Mark Brantley recently announced that the Iceland Drilling Company has been selected as the contractor for the Nevis Geothermal Project.
“These are the representatives from Icelandic Drilling, the preferred bidder on the exercise that we’ve been embarked upon now for some time, to select a bidder to do the production wells for the geothermal project. I think that this really demonstrates some real momentum in terms of getting this project going and getting it to a point where we can really say to the people of Nives that we are now moving.”
The selection followed an international bidding process managed by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
Iceland Drilling Company was chosen over competitors from the UK and the US due to its extensive experience in the Caribbean.
Sveinn Hannesson, CEO of Iceland Drilling Company, expressed enthusiasm during a recent meeting with the Premier at being selected for the project.
“We are very pleased to have chosen the preferred drilling contractor. We are here, as he said, you know, to finalise the kind of the final qualifications and some clarifications and so on, and hopefully by the end of this trip we will have everything ready to mobilise and come over and start the project. That is our sincere hope.”
The contract involves drilling five geothermal wells, consisting of three production wells and two reinjection wells.
The project aims for an initial phase of 30 megawatts (MW), which is expected to provide clean, baseload power to both Nevis and St. Kitts.
“And it is my hope that we will see mobilisation in short order and that we can get to drill in these wells so that we can get the benefit of geothermal energy for our people.”
The anticipated electricity cost from the plant is approximately US$0.09 per kilowatt-hour, significantly lower than current rates.
The project has secured roughly US$37 million in total financing, including contributions from the Saudi Fund for Development (US$20 million) and the CDB (US$17 million).
Drilling operations are scheduled to commence later in 2026, with the final plant commissioned by 2029.
