The government of Dominica has said it is nearing the completion of a draft Geothermal Bill which will go to Parliament soon.
This is according to Energy Minister, Ian Douglas.
He explained the Bill will govern the exploration, development and exploitation of power that will be generated from the country’s geothermal resources.
“We are now reaching the end stages of the drafting up of the Geothermal Bill…” Douglas stated. “The Bill is ready, basically it just has to be taken to Cabinet for Cabinet’s final blessing. The A.G (attorney general) has looked at it; all of the legal experts in the Ministry of Legal Affairs have finished with the drafting of the Bill.”
He stated that international partners has contributed to developing the Bill “to make sure that it is comprehensive and covers all the various aspects of our geothermal development.”
Douglas also said the island’s geothermal programme is well on its way.
He revealed that a number of agencies were on island last week and together with the Geothermal Development Unit held discussions at the Fort Young Hotel.
“The project is moving forward, we are at the stage where we have to decide on the best type of equipment that we need for generating the 7.5- 8 Mega Watts of power that we need,” he stated. “We are also in discussions with DOMLEC because the high tension wires that carries power around Dominica has to be upgraded to be able to absorb the geothermal power onto the grid and so that is the stage at which we are at.”
Douglas said a construction of a small geothermal plant is to begin by 2017.
In 2012 former Energy Minister, Rayburn Blackmoore, had said construction of the plant would begin in the first quarter of 2013.
Also in 2012, Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, told parliament that Dominica could have a geothermal power plant in operation by 2014.
The government has spent over $50-million in exploring the island’s geothermal potential.
Well the $200 has dropped to $150 some of the elderly have to change their budget because the $200 the Government promised before the elections is not what the elderly was expecting to receive from the government monthly but yet still it’s better than nothing but my problem is, i would like to know where is these moneys are coming from and what is the government going to to sustain this social skim,
Built in 2017?
Can someone, anyone, explain why the government is refusing to let this happen?
Razer technology builds geothermal plants in under one week!
Has this government ever even gone to a geothermal conference? There are dozens going on every single month of the year! Just google “Geothermal conference”!
Because the have not got a penny to pay for it. That’s why!
One reason this govt can’t get the geothermal off the ground is conflict of interest with the Petro Caribe oil plant at Jimmit. The diesel received from Venezuela, goes principally to service the Domlec Electrical Power stations. Thus if geothermal comes on stream, it would effective put an end to this petro-caribe experiment. As you know Petro Caribe is an unregulated piggy bank for this govt. for easy cash extraction at the detriment of future tax-payers.
By the way Lang mama don’t forget who sold domlec so instead of being quick to judge just wait n see n den you say wat you got to say
The geothermal is cold the dlp didn’t mansion anything about the geothermal during the election that make me believe no progress that 50million dollars went to the grain,
Is the Minister responsible trying to cover up the fact that the geothermal project has gone cold?
2013, 2014, 2017…Let’s stop kidding ourselves. My guess, it’s not gonna happen at all. Where should the money come from anyway? More BS from a totally incompetent government.
Whats the likelihood of this bill not passing the house? zero! because the opposition has very little power and party members don’t know how to think for themselves or express their own oppinions.
Mr Douglas good job get it done soon we need cheaper power say hellow to pm for me please
Here we go again, the flip flop Skeritt led administration is back to its tricks. They can pass as many legislations concerning geothermal energy as they please, I am not fooled. After all the spending, after all the promises as regards the construction date , it is only now Government realizes they need Domlec to upgrade their high tension wires. It will be very interesting to see whether Domlec who loves to disclose their big profits, will dive into its profits in order to upgrade the high tension wires, mark you, all over Dominica. Oh, by the way, Mr. Linton must be having a big smile on his face. You remember the famous questions which were asked during the first parliament and were discarded by Madame Speaker, well, they will be back. They can run as far as they want, but they cannot hide from Hon Lennox Linton.
******LET’S GO TO BED******
“Douglas said a construction of a small geothermal plant is to begin by 2017.
In 2012 former Energy Minister, Rayburn Blackmoore, had said construction of the plant would begin in the first quarter of 2013.
Also in 2012, Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, told parliament that Dominica could have a geothermal power plant in operation by 2014”
………………………………………………………………………….
Wake us up when the plant is finally completed!!!!!
Thanks,
How many times in your personal life you made promises and did not fulfill them?
You people come on DNO with your critiques, trying to give the impression that you are so perfect in all that you do and that you also never made a mistake in your life. By the time you die, if you are fortunate to live long enough, you will have made thousands of mistakes.
If only we knew about you but God knows more.
this is not about personal lives. It is about public lives and public good. So limit your village politics to the rum shop and allow reasonable people to express ineffectual discuss on the matter
We have spent more than 50 million in exploration and only now we are coming up with a geothermal bill to include exploration. Yes lord. For the sake of Dominica, I pray this works because it will be one of the worst cases of miss management of a country’s finances and resources we will ever see. No one knows where the 50 million came from and how it is going to be paid. These are the questions we should ask from conception to ensure the country gets the best out of its investment. It is clear the government is just trying a thing, to put in simple terms and hoping they can pull it off. I doubt only 50 million has been spent.
To be fair to the government, they did indicate that the monies came from the EU (grant), the French Development Agency (AFD; loan) and the Govt revenues.
Ok. Let us all agree they indicated where the money came from. 50 million is already spent. That is about 10% of our annual budget. Seems like this has been started a few years now and only now a bill is coming to parliament. Where is the accountability to the people. We cannot keep operating like this with national purse. If it was a good investment don’t you think domlec or another private company would have invested? Our government jumps in the ocean and then tries to see how it can swim. This mode of operation has to stop if Dominica has to go anywhere.
“We have spent more than 50 million in exploration and only now we are coming up with a geothermal bill to include exploration.” I guess the upside down syndrome continues!
How much of your money went into it?
sorry, the $27M state house is currently holding the position of worst case of economic mismanagement…at least geothermal (if ever completed) may actually have some positive economic impact.
This Labour party managed geothermal project has absorbed $50 million and counting, going to unscrupulous lawyers, dishonest bankers and even sticky handed politician. The deadline and dateline for completion of a power plant keep moving and shifting with every general election date and promises of final dates one month after elections.
This geothermal bottomless pit of countless millions of dollars disappearing in everything other than actual power plants, the insatiable appetites of shameless .. boldface from the national and international purse under the cover of geothermal ” EXPLOITATION” is a sad chapter for waitikubuli
come 2017 building set to commence 2019… wait and see…
This Geothermal Project is the modern day international airport. I grew up hearing practically every year that plans are in place for an international airport. That promise has never been realized. We are now hearing promise of geothermal, hospital and still airport, go figure. Sadly I cannot remember the state house promise taking so many years from the proposal to its completion. I guess we can only build state houses.
Lies and corruption continues.
Good news for Dominica. When the geothermal power station in Laudat starts producing electricity the diesel generators can be shut down, for the benefit of all Dominicans. Tourists will flock to Dominica to admire the nation in the Caribean that is about to be among few nations in the world that are solely using renewable and pollution free sources of energy for lighting, domestic and industrial use. Only the cars and boats will still be powered by fossil fuel — but what other alternatives are there in that sector? I wish you all the best in this great venture.
I wished that all those who comment gave their blessing as you did. Their entire comments are negative.
Considering all D/cans will benefit from it when it is complete and operating, one would think that these critics would have something good and encouraging to state. I would think such is their life, what it is like which is why they make such negative comments.
when 2017 hit they gna say construction will commence in 2020…….keep fooling dominicans…they love it……..we all know negotiations isn’t going as well as you all hoped…the french are distancing themselves
Leadership -left right,right left ,lie,lie,lie, one says this thee other says that. The “geferma” will arrive on the two farmers boat.
Notice nothing about how the people will benifit. Well someone has to pay for the DOMLEC facilities upgrade and if we smart enough we know that DOMLEC will not upgrade their infrastructure for free. Someway somehow DOMLEC got to make money out of this. So I am curious as to how we the people will benifit.