Contracts imminent for continuation of Dominica geothermal project

Dominica geothermal project site, Caribbean (source: Nixon George, Quick Link Productions via Dominica GDC)

Reported locally, the government of Caribbean island state Dominica has announced it will issue two contracts for the continuation of the construction of a geothermal plant in Dominica with assistance from the United Kingdom and the World Bank.

The announcement was made by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit this week at a welcoming ceremony for British High Commissioner to Dominica, His Excellency Scott Furssedonn-Wood.

“We have issued one contract for a phase of the project; this has been going on since last year. There are two additional contracts which are about to be issued. There were some administrative issues we had to address with the World Bank and this been basically set aside and I believe in the next couple weeks or so then I should be in a position to give the go-ahead for these two contracts,” the prime minister stated.

He revealed that the government had to redefine the project “because when going out to tender, all of the bids came out way beyond the funds they had for the project.”

There are considerations for adapting the design with a different location of the reinjection well, which would cut down costs for the project.  There is talk about a French company investing in the project and managing it and with support by the British government, there is hope the project can be achieved.

The Prime minster stated that this venture would place Dominica in a better position to reduce the use of fossil fuel in the country and enhance its resilience agenda by utilizing the resources on island to generate energy.

The United Kingdom has not only provided grants towards the financing of the geothermal plant but has also provided technical and moral support to the project.

Source: Dominica News Online