Energy Minister Dr. Vince Henderson is expressing “delight” at the progress being made at the Geothermal Plant in Laudat.
His comments were made to the local media who were given a tour of the facilities and also given an update on the work done so far.
Among those present was Minister for Planning, Economic Development, Climate Resilience, Sustainable Development, and Renewable Energy, Vince Henderson, and Environment Minister Cozier Frederick among others.
Both Ministers expressed “delight at the progress of work done despite the many challenges.”
“Certainly, we are excited about this new milestone that we have just reached and the development of geothermal energy in Dominica… So far, 15 million U.S. dollars have been spent on the project,” Henderson stated.
According to him, it’s been a long road, despite the many challenges but “thank God we are progressing and we’ve picked up steam because now we are testing our second production well.”
He also explained that during the next three weeks, they expect to have the report from the consultants who are testing the production well.
“We have also completed the drilling of the reinjection well and that’s the one I was nervous about because that one is critical. We had no reinjection well so this is the missing component to really construct a power plant now we have tested and we know it has the capacity to do what it is designed for and to ensure that we can run a 10 MW geothermal power plant,” he said.
It is expected that the next stage of the project is to move into the construction of the power plant.
“We have an amazing group of young people who have been working on this project the last several months and they’re very excited to see what they have been able to assist us to achieve…we are also ensuring that we do not put a burden on the taxpayers so that we can ensure that the project itself at the end of it will be to the benefit of all and that we’ll see a reduction in the price of electricity.”
On completion, he stated, that the plant will provide an opportunity for Dominica to help to develop new industries, make business more competitive and lift more people out of poverty.