Dominica: Dr Vince Henderson, Minister for Energy of the Commonwealth of Dominica, led a delegation on a site visit to the Laudat Geothermal Development Project to assess the project’s advancement to date.
The completion of the backup production well has moved the geothermal project into a new stage.
“The fact that we have reached this stage earlier than anticipated is quite thrilling for us”, he said.
Although it was predicted to take 47 days, it actually only took them 37 days to get to this point.
“We have reached a point where the contractors have told us that this is it, we think we have found it, but it has to be tested to determine the quality and quantity of the resource available here,” continued Dr Henderson. “And the fact that we did not have to go deeper than 1385 metres which is great news,” he added.
He said the wells at P1, closest to the village, are already producing 10 megawatts.
Dr Henderson said, “There is a well with a capacity of 10 megawatts, and there is a smaller well with a capacity of roughly 2 megawatts. So we have enough steam to build a 10-megawatt power plant.”
“For this well, the results will tell us how far we can go without drilling another well,” he continued.
According to Dr Henderson, these wells that have already been drilled can be used to fix the electricity/energy crisis immediately.
Dr Henderson stated, “We can generate at least 20 megawatts from what we have already dug, and with an expansion, even with an international airport and new hotels, we can provide power to meet all of our wants.”
This geothermal power project has been regarded as one of the major projects in the Commonwealth of Dominica as it will decrease the international fuel dependency of the nation. The project will provide electricity to around 23,000 homes, with a power generation capacity of 10,000 watts.
This project is a step towards resilience against climate change as it will provide the nation with a natural way to generate electricity without harming the environment. Along with powering the country, the plant will also reduce energy costs and will work efficiently to reduce carbon emissions.
