Geothermal energy still on the agenda in Grenada, Caribbean
Grenada - St. George's from Ship (Source: Flickr, CC, By: Roger W)
Alexander Richter
5 Jun 2021
Recent news point to a continued interest and efforts to explore for geothermal resources in the Caribbean state of Grenada.
In the context of the Caribbean, the news have centered around the French territory of Guadeloupe with currently the only geothermal plant in the region, Dominica, the island of Nevis, UK territory of Montserrat, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. But there clearly has been a wider interest in the Caribbean.
The Caribbean country of Grenada, remains interested in exploring its geothermal development potential. With a current power generation capacity of around 53 MW and a peak demand of 32 MW (2010), it is driven by diesel-fueled power generation.
The electricity market is in the hands of private-public owned Grenada Electricity Services Ltd (GRENLEC) as the sole provider of electricity. Clearly, as elsewhere Grenada is also looking at renewable energy development, with geothermal, solar and wind seen as options.
The Department of Energy in Grenada, part of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development continues to explore the possibility of Geo-thermal energy in Grenada, as reported by local news in Grenada this morning.
The country is not seen as having the same great resources as its peers in e.g. Guadeloupe or Dominica, yet with medium enthalpy resources at the area of Mount St. Catherine, there is some potential.
In 2016, Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) released a data report on geothermal in Grenada. In July 2017, we reported on initial work on environmental aspects to potential geothermal development. A contract was awarded in 2019 to British consultancy Mott MacDonald on “Environmental and Social Impact Assessment – Grenada Geothermal Energy Development – Exploratory Test Drilling Phase”.
A scoping report published in 2019, pointed two potential development sites namely Tricolar, in Mt Reuil, St Patrick, in the foothills of Mt. St Catherine and Florida/Pleasance, up behind Gouyave in St John, again fairly close to Mt. St Catherine.
The scoping report was commissioned by the Government of Grenada and paid for by the Governments of New Zealand and Japan. This scoping report included a pre-feasibility assessment, environmental and social preliminary scoping exercise, and a preliminary drilling plan which was produced in 2016.
Source: The New Today Grenada
