The St Kitts Electricity Department is a department of the Government of St Kitts and Nevis and operates under the direction, control and budget allocation of the Ministry of Public Works, Utilities, Transport and Posts. The Electricity Department has approximately sixteen thousand customers (16,000) that are responsible for a peak demand of 25.7 megawatts in the year 2008. This demand is supplied from three (3) power plants located at Needmust, one mile north east of the capital, Basseterre. The power plants accommodate eight (8) gensets fueled by diesel fuel (cetane 45). The installed capacity is currently 41.5 MW.
As a result of the high cost of fuel, the Government has decided to convert all except two of its gensets to operate on IFO 380 also known as heavy fuel oil, which is a cheaper fuel, compared to cetane 45 and would result in the following benefits to the Government and consumers in St. Kitts:
- Annual fuel cost savings of ec$16 million.
- Reduction in the production cost of electricity by ec$0.10 per Kwh
- Reduction of fuel surcharge by approximately 50%.
The Heavy Fuel Conversion Project is scheduled to be completed by January 2009.
The Department generates and transmits its electricity at 11KV and 60Hertz. The transmission system is consists of five overhead and six underground feeders with associated substations. The distribution system consists of 415 volts three phase and 230 volts single phase lines. In November 2006, the government completed an Electricity Supply Improvement Project that featured the following improvements:
- Constructed two new feeders on the eastern and western sides of the island with sufficient capacities to facilitate the projected growth in those areas.
- Refurbishment of six (6) old substations in and around Basseterre, the island capital.
- Installation of new 11 KV underground cables and construction of three new substations in the Frigate Bay area with dedicated feeders to the South East Peninsula.
The above construction under the ESIP has resulted in greater reliability and operational flexibility of the underground system in Basseterre. Moreover, in the rural areas the quality of supply to customers has improved also.
Currently, the Department is in the final stages of a Protection Upgrade Project which involves replacement of old protective relays and switchgears (over 30 years old) with modern relays and switchgears. Other features of this project include under frequency protection that in the event of loss of generation the protection scheme will automatically open pre-selected feeders to restore system balance, thus improving system stability and lastly, auto-synchronisation & load sharing facilities for all generators.
For future generation supply the Cabinet has approved the following projects:
- A 5 MW wind project to start in 2008 and complete by 2010.
- A Bio-fuel project to supply the grid with 5 MW of capacity and the capability of selling the Electricity Department diesel fuel substitute at lower than current market price.
Additionally, recent Geothermal drilling activities in Nevis has yielded positive results at several locations and it is estimated that the island’s geothermal potential is somewhere between 900 MW and 1300 MW. Currently studies are in progress to establish the technical and economic requirements to facilitate the operation of an interconnected St. Kitts and Nevis electrical utility system.