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Plan to connect islands’ four electricity plants ~St. Maarten, St. Martin, Anguilla sign MOU ~
by The Daily Herald
Posted: Apr 11, 2006 15:27 UTC
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PHILIPSBURG - Electricity plants EDF of French St. Martin/St. Barths, Anglec of Anguilla and GEBE of St. Maarten should become inter-connected in 2008, minimising power interruptions and outages on the three islands.
The three electricity companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at GEBE’s main offices on Monday morning, giving the start signal to a joint project which should result in a joint development agreement later this year entailing energy contracts and an operating agreements design.
Implementing of works, laying of cables should take place in 2007-2008 and the interconnected system should be operational in June 2008. A more in-depth study still has to be made into cost versus benefit, investments needed and the contribution/interest of each partner.
GEBE’s Managing Director Julius Lambert explained that one of the main reasons for the cooperation was that small operations face “serious problems” because they have small isolated grids. Larger countries, especially mainland countries, have many power plants tied together, resulting in a strong grid.
Here the grid is “weak,” which leads to outages and unstable supply, Lambert said. This in turn affects reliability to the consumer. In addition, smaller island operations have higher operational cost, also because they have to keep relatively high reserve capacity.
A feasibility study was started mid-2004 and completed in September 2005, analysing the technical and economic possibilities of this project, which will cost around 20 million euros depending on the design of the works. It entails laying cables between Anguilla and French St. Martin, between St. Martin and Dutch St. Maarten and between St. Maarten and St. Barths.
Unique
The inter-connection will be unique in the region, the directors of the three electricity companies as well as GEBE Chairman Commissioner Roy Marlin proudly acknowledged.
Neil McConnie of Anglec said his company was “extremely pleased” to be part of “history making.” He said no other group internationally had pulled this off in the region to combine four power plants on three different islands, covering three different jurisdictions and transcending national borders.
Michel Fouillaud, Director of EDF Archipel Guadeloupe, spoke of a first in the region and said this cooperation could set an example. He said the project would bring “huge” benefits to all involved companies and their customers. The venture could mean lower prices for consumers, as production cost could go down.
He said it was important in this venture for the partners to maintain their freedom to “move forward,” being self sufficient, but in the meantime, having a common safety net.
Lambert said the idea to inter-connect the four plants was not new, but his past attempts to connect GEBE and EDF had been “misunderstood” at that time. Asked about the lower prices for consumers, Lambert said it was difficult to put a figure to this and it would all depend on the investment and the extent of the soft loans. He said the biggest benefit for the customers would be the reliability of the supply of electricity.
Capacity
GEBE will play a major role in the venture as, with 81 megawatts, it has the largest maximum capacity. EDF St. Martin has 51 megawatts, Anglec 24 megawatts and EDF St. Barths 22 megawatts. The four plants together produce about 180 megawatts. The idea would be that if one plant loses one or more units, the other plant(s) could assist in bringing up the capacity.
Vincent Baslé of EDF explained that the venture would mean betterment of operational cost, investment cost, increased reliability, customer service and positive environmental effects with less pollution, as engines would have to be started and stopped less frequently.
The feasibility study included a sea survey done in December 2004. It was determined that the seabed between the islands was “very favourable,” because it is not deep and mostly sandy. Studied also were the economic interest, system behaviour and proposal for rules. The behaviour of the systems was important because of the different configurations. They were found to be “quite acceptable,” said Baslé.
Cable laying
Twelve kilometres of cables will be laid between Anguilla and French St. Martin, seven kilometres between the French and Dutch sides, and 32 kilometres between Dutch St. Maarten and St. Barths. Baslé said it made “sense” geographically to connect the operations.
The cost of including Saba and St. Eustatius would be “quite considerable,” said Lambert, explaining that the intention is to determine the cost/investment and benefit for each party. GEBE’s board member Elmer Linzey had mentioned he would like to see Saba included in the venture.
GEBE Chairman Marlin said the project would mostly benefit the people of the islands. “This is a good project. It is in the people’s interest,” he said, adding that it made “absolute economic sense” with the islands being so close by. He said the French and Dutch sides were also cooperating in setting up a joint waste disposal facility. Marlin said it should be possible to secure international financial support from funding agencies of the European Union (EU) and others.
McConnie of Anglec hoped for a good ending. “I hope that the challenges we will be faced with will be dealt with through cooperation in the spirit of compromise. We want this first project in this part of the world to be successfully implemented,” he said. He explained that a project team would do the monitoring, supervised by a steering committee in which each company would have two representatives.
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