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Caribbean St. Lucia could become exporter of geothermal power

Caribbean St. Lucia could become exporter of geothermal power St Lucia - view of the Pitons from Anse Chastenet (source: flickr/ heatheronhertravels creative commons)
Alexander Richter 27 Nov 2012

The Caribbean state of St. Lucia could become an exporter of geothermal power to neighbour Martinique via 30 mile cable, if development plans for a geothermal power project of a company become reality.

Caribbean island state of St. Lucia is looking at geothermal energy as a power option for the future.

As reported locally, the government has an agreement with US-based Qualibou Energy for a geothermal project. ThinkGeoEnergy reported previously on the company, stating that the company has signed a binding agreement with the local government (2010) and that the company had entered interim funding agreement for its project (2011). Nothing new has been reported since. There are no news that things have progressed since.

The company though reports that “about $60 million is invested in the current phase of the project”, with potential revenues of up to $100 million through a favourable PPA. The country’s peak demand is about 56 MW, provided currently through diesel generation.

The country looks at the possibility of connecting by cable to Martinique, a 30-mile distance. Thereby the country could export electricity from electricity generating capacity of 80 MW.

Source: Caribbejan.Tumblr