Dominica’s geothermal plant sees flow testing, study tour activities in April
It has been a busy first half of April for Dominica’s geothermal plant.
Last April 6, Dominica Geothermal Development Company Ltd. conducted flow testing for the second production to determine how much power can be generated from the production well.
The plant is expected to generate 10,000 kilowatts of power upon completion, providing electricity to 23,000 homes in Dominica.
The flow testing will take a month, according to Dr Vince Henderson, Dominica’s Planning, Economic Development, Climate Resilience, Sustainable Development, and Renewable Energy Minister.
In a report by Think Geoenergy, representatives from the Dominica Geothermal Development Company and the Iceland Drilling Company were both present at the event. In 2022, the report continued, the Government of Dominica signed a contract with the Iceland Drilling Company for the drilling of two new geothermal wells.
In the same week, the geothermal plant also welcomed representatives from Eastern Caribbean countries for a study tour.
Under the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the tour was part of the Geothermal Energy: Capacity Building for Utilisation, Investment and Local Development (GEOBUILD) programme, and the tour is part of a campaign to learn about geothermal exploration and drilling and foster regional cooperation and collaboration on geothermal energy.
Delegates from Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis joined the tour that ran from April 3 to 5 April 2023.
“This project aims to contribute to the efforts of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the OECS Commission to advance geothermal energy development in the OECS, and by extension, the Caribbean, by addressing the challenges of limited capacities of human resources, institutions, and regulatory frameworks for geothermal energy development,” OECS wrote in a press release.
The government has invested $50 million in the geothermal plant, one of Dominica’s major projects that put the island on the map as the world’s first climate-resilient country.
Part of the funding for the plant comes from the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme of Dominica.
Through the CBI programme, thousands of climate-resilient residential buildings and other important infrastructure are being built in partnership with MMC Development Ltd., a private developing firm that has been working closely with the government for almost a decade.