Dominica confident of 10+MW in capacity from production well
Iceland Drilling rig on site in Dominica, Caribbean (source: ISOR)
Alexander Richter
18 Jun 2014
Following 6 days of flow tests, Dominica is confident of potential power generation of up to 11 MW from production well at site of geothermal project.
At a recent visit to the geothermal project site in Dominica, the country’s Minister for Energy Rayburn Blackmoore “explained that a six-day flow test conducted on it has proved that the well is productive.
“This has been a very long and difficult journey both in terms of mobilizing the financial resources and the technical competence to get us to this point that we are now at,” he said. “This process started where the cap was released safely and efficiently, adhering to the best practices in the geothermal industry and that is commendable.”
According to him, the well is able to produce 11.4 megawats of electricity.
“I have been so advised that through monitoring and the information coming from this well we can generate up to 11.4 megawatts which surpassed the capacity that we once thought off which was 5 megawatts. That is commendable,” he noted.
“It is a very expensive undertaking particularly the exploratory stages,” he noted. “We have spent in excess of $50-million that we have mobilized to get to this level. Why has the government pursued this very ambitious and indeed very expensive venture it is simply because we have been listening to the cries of the Dominican population, our business people, the people involved in manufacturing, the tourism people, the hoteliers and every citizen of this country who receives an electricity bill at the end of each month.”
The Prime Minister noted that Dominica remains plagued with high costs of energy because of the exorbitant cost of fuel.
“The solution to high energy cost is to explore what the good Lord has given to you as they have done in other countries in respect to fossil fuel,” he said. “He has given to us a resource called geothermal and it is the wish that we take advantage of what we have to our benefit.”
Source: Dominica News Online
