Haberler

Grenada moving ahead with exploration work on geothermal project

Grenada, Caribbean (source: flickr/ Tony Hisgett, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 24 May 2016

Grenada will proceeding with exploration work on a geothermal project following extensive early work by JICA and Jacobs, with next steps to be decided at a Geothermal Forum to be held in the second half of 2016.

The government of Grenada has now published details on what has been accomplished of its geothermal support partnership with New Zealand. The project was set up in 2014 and aimed at facilitating the exploration and eventual use of geothermal energy.

Under the program the following has been accomplished:

  • The review of previous studies;
  • The undertaking of extensive geochemical, geophysics and geological surveys;
  • Analysis of the institutional, legislative and regulatory frameworks for undertaking environmental and social impacts relative to developments requiring such; and
  • Preliminary analysis of the infrastructural capacity relative to facilitating access of equipment, to the potential site.

In July 2015, a high temperature reservoir of about 4 to 8 square kilometers north of Mt. St. Catherine was confirmed. A potential temperature of 220 to 240 degrees Celsius was estimated and a potential development capacity of 15-20 MW.

In the first quarter of this year, experts from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and JACOBS (New Zealand), completed the following additional work:

  • a second Geoscience report on the status of the Geothermal resource;
  • a Geothermal Resources Development Roadmap; and
  • a preliminary civil engineering survey;

They also held consultations with officials from the Ministries of Finance and Energy; Works; Health; Agriculture and officials from the statutory bodies whose work involve environmental and social issues pertaining to the Geothermal process.

During the period April 4th – 8th, Mr. Aoki Issei – JICA’s Deputy Director for Central America and the Caribbean and his Deputy, Mr. Nakayama Shun visited Grenada and held meetings with environmental and social stakeholders and paid a courtesy calls to the Permanent Secretary and other senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, exploring the progress to date on Grenada’s geothermal initiative. It was agreed that the immediate next step in this process will be the hosting of broad based Geothermal Forum before the second half of 2016.

The Government of Grenada welcomes the bilateral cooperation and the technical assistance provided by friendly Governments, and takes this opportunity to acknowledge its gratitude to the Governments of New Zealand and Japan through JACOBS New Zealand Ltd., and JICA respectively, for their demonstrated cooperation and collaboration in this initiative.

To date, in excess of US$1M has been spent to date by these Governments on the Grenada Geothermal process.

Source: Government of Grenada