The third round of consultations on Government’s proposed Geothermal Energy Project continued this week with meetings in the communities of Trafalgar and Laudat.
The Government of Dominica is moving ahead with plans to build a 10-15 mega watt power plant in Laudat which is expected to accommodate all of Dominica’s electricity requirements.
On Wednesday, November 13, 2013, officials from the Ministry of Energy along with a team of French consultants from Caraibes Environnement, a Guadeloupe based company, met with residents of Laudat to reveal the results of a recently conducted Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The EIA was conducted to evaluate the environmental and social impact of the project.
The EIA revealed that the while soil and sub soil pollution and surface water contamination would be high, the residual impact of the drilling exercise would be moderate.
Measures identified to be adopted will include continuous recycling of mud and continuous monitoring.
The consultative meeting with residents of Laudat on Wednesday also provided an opportunity for the project officer of the Geothermal Project Management Unit, Alexis George, to give an update on the geothermal project to date.
George revealed that so far, the Government of Dominica has completed drilling and testing of three exploratory wells in the Roseau Valley.
In addition, he confirmed that earlier this month, Government begun drilling production and reinjection wells in Laudat and Trafalgar.
He noted that this phase of the project is expected to be complete in four months.
“The production well in Laudat will be done directionally, 1740 meters in depth. We have an existing well at that site which is vertical. That well can be used for production as well. To limit the interference between the two wells, we plan to do this new well directional so that at the end of the bottom of the well will have a separation which will limit the interaction between the two, so both wells can be used during production,” he said.
He said further that each well will take approximately two months to be built and the testing and environmental monitoring will be completed by June of 2014.
Alexis cautioned residents that they should expect some slight inconvenience during the drilling of the production and re injection wells.
“Some of the impacts we expect during the drilling phase will include visual or landscape. Obviously we had to clear a portion of land and of course we have equipment coming in so the landscape is going to change, we will have a visual impact seeing that there will be equipment on site,” he noted.
He said because the drilling exercise is a twenty four hour operation, some noise is expected.
“There is heavy equipment on site, and there are diesel generators and other heavy machinery, so we expect some noise,” he noted. “Also seeing that it is a twenty four hour operation, we are going to have lights on at night.”
George warned that during the movement of equipment” there will be some disturbances in terms of the traffic on their routes.”
He revealed that mitigation measures are in place to deal with any accidents which may occur during the drilling phase of the project.
“We have prepared an Emergency Response Plan with contact numbers of first responders such as the Fire and Ambulance Service and the Red Cross,” he said.
He noted that the site is also equipped with monitoring equipment which will be used to monitor the levels of Hydrogen Sulphide Gases released as a result of the drilling exercise.
They are going to cause a huge volcano and blow up Dominica.Bye, Bye, Dominica. The wind blows almost constantly at cane field why not wind turbines.
Domincans need that development!!!!!!!!!!
this plant is already very noisy.i live at wotton waven and this thing is at Lily Valley and this thing , with its loud noise is very disturbing.i do not know how the people at that point are not complaining.
Then you have an idea what the people of Fondcole have been going through for years with that power station
The likely presence of geothermal resources beneath Dominica is suggested by a boiling lake, numerous boiling hot springs, several large solfataras and very recent (<500 YBP) volcanic activity. There are at least three geothermal centers. In 1995, an American company entered into agreements with the utility and the government to develop the resource at Soufriére but to date no action has resulted.
Taken from: G.W. Huttrer, "Geothermal activity status in the volcanic Caribbean islands", Proc. World Geothermal Congress 2000, Japan.
PM you there partner?
Did you send someone to the recent Geothermal conference & exhibition in USA? Why not? There’s still time:
The 4th annual GeoPower Europe Congress & Exhibition is 4—5 December 2012, Budapest, Hungary
http://www.greenpowerconferences.com/EF/?sSubSystem=Prospectus&sEventCode=GE1212HU&sSessionID=b10aa6d38927c09edc2caf5a3238634a-15346136
The next Geothermal Conference is in March 2013
http://smu.edu/geothermal/Oil&Gas/GeothermalEnergyUtilization.htm
Dominican Government has been screwing around & mishandling the Geothermal energy issue since 1995
Meanwhile, Tanzania gets a new Geothermal Electricity plant!
http://cleantechnica.com/2012/11/28/first-geothermal-plant-for-tanzania/
Meanwhile: Montserrat signs Geothermal Contract with Iceland Drilling Company Ltd.
Dominican government has been mishandling geothermal development since 1995!
http://www.sknvibes.com/news/newsdetails.cfm/64681
PM? Are you there buddy?
What’s wrong with Geothermal?
Need a better source to get the job done?
Try these:
PMC: http://pmc-us.com
CalEnergy – http://www.calenergy.com/
Ormat – http://www.ormat.com/
Energy Source – http://www.charllc.com/
Sempra – http://www.sempra.com/
BHP Billiton – http://www.bhpbilliton.com/
Westinghouse – http://westinghouse.com/
Intergen – http://www.intergen.com/
Simbol Materials – http://www.simbolmaterials.com/
Meanwhile, another satisfied geothermal electrical customer:
“We hired PMC to do its first full scale power plant construction job for our 49 MW Hudson Ranch I geothermal project. They were customer-focused, flexible and highly productive. The result was a high quality finished product that smoothly attained commercial status in a short time.”
– Dave Watson, CEO EnergySource
http://pmc-us.com/our-projects/list-of-clients/
I am confused why Dominica does not have Geothermal!
RASAR technology set up 1000′s of successful units across the western states. They got them up in running typically within a week (as opposed to years).
The temperature differential did not have to be great for the system to work.
They could power a house, or power a factory.
BTW: Raser is now Cyrq
http://www.cyrqenergy.com/
yay geothermal project
Is it just me? or does this geothermal seem to have more cons than pros? this sounds like those pills we see commercials about that are supposed to be wonder drugs but then it says the side effects and you wonder why would anyone take that stuff????
It’s you and the rest of the cabal.
As a geologist working in the environmental consulting business for almost 10yrs this is pretty interesting stuff. I leave and work in the US but was able to get a hand on the report. In reading the report there is a stark contrast between how the french company measures noise and how the government of Dominica measures noise levels. It is clear we have not dealt with anything that sophisticated and our laws governing industrial hygine and and such environmental endeavours are either poor or lacking. I am not saying this to be critical but to help us think before we leap. I have the report titled Geothermal Project Management Unit …..Roseau Valley Phase 1 saved on my phone so i am not just making it up.
Our island is very small compared to most other areas with similar facilities as a result the potential risk on the environment is magnified. As a result mitigation of the potential impacts should be the gov number on priority. One of the ways it can be done is by putting in place specific rules and regulations as to discharge, length of monitoring, frequency of monitoring how are we going to capture and remediate some of the contaminants that will get out. In my experience i can tell you there will be pollution from well installation to operation of the facility but its impact will depend on the laws to prevent, the enforcement of those laws, and our ability to respond. Based on what i have read so far not sure our environmental and industrial regs are up to par.
I must add i think the project has huge potential for dominica but we have to be serious in doing all we can to safeguard the environment and it starts with government regulations. My fear is since the gov has invested alot in this project there is a conflict of interest in getting the project completed and regulating themselves. In other words they are the investor and the regulator.
The ministry of health and environment must ensure the people and our fragile ecosystem is safegurded at all cost.
Your spelling and choice of words…….. Difficult to take what you write seriously.
@anonymous. If you want to focus on spelling and granmar by all means go ahead. The devil is in the details. It tells me you agree. Go ahead correct the spelling and put in your choice of word let me know if the facts change
GMTP = Great Move, Thats Progress!!!!