By Kenton Chance
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Jan 12, CMC –Dominica is urging small island developing states (SIDS) not to pursue geothermal energy development unless they have strong partners to help cover costs and provide technical expertise.
“I’m excited, but I’m also very nervous because I’m tempted to tell my colleagues from the small island developing states, ‘Don’t do this; it’s too expensive’,” Energy Minister, Dr. Vince Henderson told a ministerial roundtable as part of the 16th Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), which ends here on Monday.
“But the good news is it can work. We can get it done, but it will require the support of all of us around the table, and I can see some partners here who’ve helped us along the way,” Henderson told the discussion, dubbed “Geothermal Heat and Power – Building a Resilient Energy Backbone.
After nearly 20 years of investment, including research, Dominica is preparing to begin commercial operations at a 10-megawatt geothermal power plant in the Roseau Valley in March this year.
“So, the lessons learned are: strong partnerships are important. We need partners,” Henderson said, adding that Dominica would not have started geothermal energy development without the support of the European Union.
Henderson, who also has ministerial responsibilities for foreign affairs, international business, and trade, said that, through a grant from the European Union, Dominica partnered with the neighbouring French territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique to conduct the first test drilling in 2011.
Later, other partners, including the United Kingdom, Iceland, the World Bank, and New Zealand, provided technical assistance, with support from the Clinton Global Initiative.
“We were able to work together, and it was just a consortium of partners that were able to assist us in reducing the cost,” Henderson said.
“And it’s not just bringing the money, but bringing the support, the advocacy, getting the right people around the room. And secondly, and I’m saying this for the benefit of especially the smaller states that are seeking to pursue geothermal energy, the right teams, local as well as foreign advisers, as transactional supporters.”
Henderson said legislation was one of the biggest challenges that Dominica faced.
“… even in our case, where we did not have the legislation, we’re able to work our way into the legislation, even while we were pursuing the geothermal development,” Henderson said, adding, “all of that was helpful because of the partnership we had with the World Bank, especially, and to some extent, the Caribbean Development Bank. But more in particular, the World Bank.”
Henderson noted that IRENA has taken a very active role in promoting the development of geothermal energy.
“But the key thing is we really need to help member states to de-risk. We need grants, contingent grants, full grants, special facilities to determine the resource,” he said.
“The truth is, when you start looking at drilling two wells, it really doesn’t make much economic sense. I think it is where we really need the partnership.
“In our case, small systems, small island states, we need that type of partnership. We also need, on the technical side, to be prepared for what is required.”
The Dominica Energy Minister noted the importance of investment in the transmission networks.
“Most of our systems cannot carry geothermal energy, and usually, the resource is found in some very difficult, remote area. So, we have to first build access to that place, then we have to build the transmission to get the power out of that place. So that is something that we also need to consider.”
He said that, even with good partners, guaranteeing the project was a challenge.
“How do you guarantee a geothermal project? And that is where we found ourselves, really under tremendous pressure. How do you guarantee, and for a small island state like ours, through a public-private partnership, we still had to provide guarantees?”
Henderson also noted the climatic challenges to the construction of a geothermal project in a country like Dominica, even as renewable energy helps to reduce the hydrocarbons that contribute to climate extremes that affect SIDS.
“… we are susceptible to hurricanes every year, and you must have natural force majeure and provide for them and guarantee that will ensure that this can work,” Henderson said.
“And finally, on the utility side, small utilities without international credit ratings, how do they secure a power purchase agreement from an international developer who wishes to sell that power? So, there are several technical challenges that we need to overcome.”
Henderson said that the most important thing is having the right type of partnerships.
“And of course, leadership is really critical, because we’ve been at this, and I personally have been at this for the last 20 years, and I must say, as soon as the lights are turned on, I’m done. I’m going to move on to something else in my life, because it’s been 20 years of my life that have been devoted to this.”
He said the government was hoping to commission the plant sooner, but encountered weather-related construction delays.
Henderson said that Dominicans were initially opposed to the project.
“And I was just sharing with a friend the horror story when I was permanent representative to the United Nations, I had to find an overnight flight to get home because the community decided they were protesting, and nothing would happen.”
Henderson said there had to be community engagements, adding that one took place as recently as the previous week.
“We’re going to open the wells for the first time to actually power the system. So, we had to meet with the community to explain to them what to expect. But now I’ll tell you, they are the best supporters of geothermal, but it took a lot of time.”
However, Henderson anticipates another challenge in managing Dominicans’ expectations for lower electricity bills when the plant begins operating.
“The challenge, which will be the next step, is convincing the public, as our friend from Hungary said, that when they do not get a drastic reduction in the electricity prices, how do you sell this? So this is my job, I guess, the next part,” Henderson told the ministerial roundtable.
CMC/kc/ir/2026