BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – HEZY RAM, founder of Ram Energy and a veteran in the geothermal industry, has partnered with West Indies Power (WIP) in an effort to bring the Nevis Geothermal Project to fruition.
According to information coming out of Recharge, the global source for renewable energy news, earlier this year, Ram, through his company, had agreed to partner with WIP to handle the technical aspects and project financing for the project.
Recharge claims to have been told by Ram that he had already spoken with Nevis’ Premier the Hon. Joseph Parry, the Nevis Island Administration and the island’s utility company, NEVLEC.
“Everyone is really eager to see this project happening,” Recharge quoted Ram as saying, adding that, in fact, they are “desperate to see it happen after so many false starts”.
He however declined to comment on WIP’s myriad legal issues, but said he is trying to sit down with all of the stakeholders to “structure a deal beneficial to all of us and to help the people of Nevis and St Kitts”.
The media outlet stated that Ram estimated the cost of the project at $70M to $80M and he believes that finding financing would be the easiest part of the project as multi-lateral banks are already interested and the risk is low.
In addition, Ram said, “We will do the financing without any guarantee…we did that in Nicaragua.”
He hopes to start construction by the end of this year on up to 10MW and begin operating by early 2015. Also, a second phase would bring total capacity up to 45MW, with the excess being provided to St Kitts.
Ram reportedly said that “for all practical purposes this project is shovel-ready. The most important thing is that we have to clear the legal issues. If we don’t clear the legal issues, even I won’t be able to do the project”.
According to Tom Konrad, Ram has worked in the geothermal industry for over three decades and that his career began with 28 years of experience at Ormat(ORA), where he was Executive Vice President of Business Development.
In 2009 he founded Ram Power Corp. and in February 2012 he resigned as CEO of that company shortly after the entity warned of significant delays and cost overruns at a key Nicaraguan project, a move he said was motivated by irreconcilable differences with other bosrd members and major shareholders regarding the company’s strategy.
Konrad said that today Ram has his own geothermal company, advising clients like drilling technology innovator Potter Drilling, and lesser known but equally deserving technology innovator Geotek Energy.
Ram, he added, also serves on the Board of Latin American and Caribbean Council on Renewable Energy.
