In a recent interview with local Dominica Online News, the Minister for Energy of Dominica in the Caribbean assured that the geothermal project has not been abandoned
Following the tropical storm earlier this year, the focus of the government has been to find housing for displaced and this has delayed a few things, among them the geothermal project.
The project has finalised exploration and testing with the next step being the construction of a small power plant for local supply. The infrastructure for the project had not been effected by the tropical storm.
“The well heads are intact. We continue our basic maintenance to prevent rusting and deterioration. We are in a different phase right now. We concluded the discovery and testing phases and we are moving into the generation stage: what type of plant do we need, what types of turbines do we need to install, how much power can we actually put onto the grid?
Some of the transmission infrastructure needs updates to deal with power to be supplied by a geothermal plant. Contracts with DOMLEC, the local utility, will also have to be finalised and the government wants to make sure that “electricity will be sold at an affordable rate to consumers.”
Financing will also have to be secured for the plant. So far the government of Dominica has “actually invested in the region of US $80m in the exploration of geothermal energy.”
