ROSEAU, Dominica – A small but growing number of countries are well on their way to producing all of their electricity from renewable sources. Dominica, in the eastern Caribbean, is planning to join these pioneers and become the first small island developing State (SIDS) to stop using fossil fuels for energy generation.
It’s called geothermal energy, and it’s an exciting prospect for the country. Geothermal has none of the intermittency issues of wind and solar – in other words, it provides stable energy day and night – and doesn’t take up any surface real estate, keeping the Roseau Valley in its pristine state.
Most SIDS are dependent on imported fossil fuels for electricity generation and transport, putting a major strain on their resources and jeopardising their energy security by exposing them to the vagaries of the international fuel markets.
Dominica, however, has a powerful clean power source lying in wait below the Roseau Valley, a popular tourist destination a short drive from the capital, Roseau, that is clean, completely renewable and could provide so much energy that the government could even sell excess electricity to neighbouring islands.
Pipes are drilled deep underground until they hit a “geothermal reservoir”, an accumulation of water warmed by the Earth’s subterranean heat to approximately 250° Celsius. Because Dominica lies atop a volcanic ridge, this heat is relatively close to the surface. When the pipes reach the reservoir, the high pressure drives it to the surface, where it is converted to steam to drive turbines that produce electricity.
“We’ve found an excellent geothermal reservoir in Roseau Valley, around a thousand metres down,” said Fred John, the head of the government-owned Dominica Geothermal Development Corporation.
“We’ve built two wells – one to bring up the hot water and another to return it back down to the reservoir – so it’s a closed loop system. We have chosen the technology that is the most environmentally friendly and best in class,” he added.
The Dominica government has been convinced for decades that geothermal could be transformative for livelihoods, slashing the cost of electricity in a country which is currently reliant primarily on expensive imported diesel as a power source and supplemented by hydropower and a small amount of wind and solar.
“Dominica has been pursuing this energy source as long ago as 1969,” says Dr Vince Henderson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business, Trade and Energy.
“Studies carried out with the assistance of the United Nations determined that we have the potential to power the island. We’ve had the ambition to realise that potential since 1974, when we created the Geothermal Development Corporation.”
It took the government almost four decades to secure the funding needed to drill test wells, which confirmed that geothermal would be commercially viable, allowing them to sell to neighbouring Martinique and Guadeloupe.
“Developing geothermal power is very expensive, particularly for remote island States. We were fortunate because we received a combination of grants and concessional loans in order to get to where we are,” said Henderson, pointing to funding that has come from a variety of sources, including the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), American Development Bank and the World Bank as well as the governments of New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States.
“However, if the international community is serious, there has to be some upfront investment by way of grant funding,” he added.
The government remains confident that geothermal energy from the plant could be powering the island within the next two years, a small time to wait given the decades-long struggle to get the project off the ground.
“I think this gives the country a real shot to transform itself economically. The first step will be cheaper electricity for everybody, which will make a huge difference. But then we go on to sell it, bringing revenue to Dominica and allowing the entire island economy to rise,” John said.
On Monday, the Dominica Parliament gave the green light for the government to seek a loan in excess of EC$100 million (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) for the construction of a 10 megawatts geothermal energy plant which it says is in keeping with its plans to accelerate the efforts to bring geothermal generated electricity to the island’s grids by December 2025.
Finance Minister Dr. Irvine McIntyre told Parliament that the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank is prepared to provide the loan for the project.
with all of the geothermal wells already in place and agreement signed with the Geothermal Power Company of Dominica 2023 Limited for the financing, construction and operation of the 10 megawatt geothermal plant in Laudat, a small village in the interior of the island, the government was seeking approval to borrow EC$109 million for the development of a new electricity transmission network.
He said the current electricity and distribution network, which is owned by the Dominica Electricity Company Limited (DOMLEC) “does not have the sufficient capacity” to transport the electricity to be generated by the geothermal plants.
“Furthermore, this network is designed to support future expansion of the geothermal power plant. DOMLEC also advised that it is unable to incur the costs of developing the new transmission network, which is required, as the company has not yet recovered from the extraordinary high costs which it incurred in 2017, 2018 to restore the network which was destroyed by Hurricane Marie in September 2017.”
McIntyre said the IDA , which he described as “one of our main partners in this venture, is prepared to finance the development of this new electricity transmission network”.
He said the new network would connect the geothermal plant in Laudat to the hydro electricity plant in the Roseau Valley and to the DOMLEC substation at Fond Cole on the outskirts of the capital for distribution to DOMLEC’s customers.
“The terms are concessional and in line with the other IDB loans. That is interest of three-quarters of one per cent per annum, the commitment charge of half of one per cent per annum, grace period of 10 years, repayment of 60 semi annual instalments commencing May 15, 2034.
“Dominicans have been eagerly awaiting the day when they could have mire stable electricity bills which are less dependent on the price of oil,” McIntyre added.
