Dominica builds its geothermal development on great international support
Drilling rig on project site, Dominica (source: Enorca)
Alexander Richter
6 Feb 2019
In a recent radio interview, Co-ordinator of Dominica’s geothermal energy development project, Ambassador Vince Henderson shares details on the recently announced financial package being made available for the development by the World Bank, UK's DFID and others.
Speaking to local radio station DBS Radio, Co-ordinator of the island’s geothermal energy development project, Ambassador Vince Henderson highlighted the successful negotiations with the World Bank that helped secure financing of the geothermal power project in Dominica, Caribbean.
We recently reported on the financial package provided by IDB and CariBank for Caribbean geothermal development, of which a large part – as now reported – will go towards the construction of the planned geothermal power plant in Dominica. A large part of the overall financial package will be in the form of “grant financing”.
“What we were essentially negotiating with the World Bank is the US$10 million grant from the United Kingdom’s DFID (Department for International Development) which is being administered by the World Bank”.
Part of the negotiation were also $2 million from the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) DOCK, a support scheme to help increase SIDS access to international financing, technical expertise and technology, as well as a link to the European and USA carbon markets. Another $17.2 million come from the World Bank at an interest rate of 0.75 percent with a 10 year moratorium grace period and 15 year repayment.
Furthermore, the island state negotiated a $10 million grant from the Clean Technology Fund administered by the World Bank.
The effective financial package to go into development of Dominica’s geothermal ambitions is US$51.45 million. Furthermore, Dominica received support from New Zealand for the construction of a 7 MW geothermal power plant under a three year US$1.5 million partnership agreement. Part of a cooperation with New Zealand that supported Dominica since 2014, which will end this year based on its implementation timeframe.
Source: St. Lucia Online
