Details emerge from recent public project meeting in Montserrat
Site of Well MON-01, Montserrat, Caribbean (source: Montserrat government)
Alexander Richter
9 Nov 2015
At a recent public information meeting, the geothermal project in Montserrat provided details on the planned drilling for a third well that is expected to increase yield for a planned geothermal power plant.
Local media from Montserrat reports on the public information meeting on the drilling of a third well for the geothermal project on the island held last week.
With the drilling of the third well for the project the project hopes to increase the potential yield of this green energy from 2MW to 5MW. It is hoped that drilling will commence in early 2016.
A company from Barbados carried out an Environmental Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) in September 2012 prior to the beginning of the exploratory drilling of wells in connection with the geothermal development at the base of Weekes and Cork Hill described then as Richmond Hill within the daytime exclusion zone as it was then. That zone has now changed.
According to information provided to press, “… [the drilling] is supposed to proceed directly to the drilling of a production size well rather than smaller pre-production exploration ‘slim holes’ that would then need to be followed by production wells. The drilling of a slim hole before the production wells would only introduce unreasonably delays to what is an already relatively costly development.
“This 3rd well will be drilled to a depth of between 2,000 and 2,500 meters. The target area is sited on the base of St. George’s Hill. It is expected that this area has both hot fluid and locally high permeability.
“Two previous wells that were successfully drilled in 2013/2014 under Phase 1 and 2 which cover the exploratory drilling for the 3rd well, will help to ascertain a suitable configuration for a geothermal plant.”
There are some back ground conditions: “The Government of Montserrat has established a Geothermal Steering Committee to oversee the drilling. The contractor will provide a suitably sized drilling rig, associated equipment and operational personnel. Drilling water supply requirements are estimated at 3,500 litres per minute with backup storage available through a pond at the drilling site.
“All drill fluids will be stored adjacent to the well in a dedicated waterproof concrete structure with a capacity to be determined. The solid component is expected to remain in the concrete tank, capped and disposed at a later date.”
Further details about the project are currently not available. It will be particularly interesting who will be doing the drilling.
Source: The Montserrat Reporter
