Two test wells already operational and one more to go, as the Dominica government seeks to quantify the geothermal energy available to the island for tapping into.
Works Minister Rayburn Blackmoore says while the government has an idea that the resource is there “we need to ascertain the quality and the quantity of the resource”.
According to the minister the current exploration initiative shows the government’s commitment to diversify Dominica’s energy resources.
“We believe our greatest hope is in geothermal development,” he told Dominica News Online.
Blackmoore says the people of Dominica deserve an energy source “that is cheaper and more sustainable too”.
Officials working on the project say they expect to give a full status report on the work being done in the near future.
Last December Dominica launched its geothermal exploration project, with the government describing the initiative as a major step in the process of moving away from use of fossil fuel for energy generation.
The government signed a $17 million dollar contract with an Icelandic company which is spearheading the drilling of three test wells in the Roseau Valley.
Great news! Cheers to geothermal.
why geothermal first, when we know wind and solar is there for easy access. and can work. look at Rosalie bay. Its a crime to have an education but have no common sense!!!
“signed a $17 million dollar contract” I think we should see whats in that “contract” and who is really the main controller of the geothermal energy,
what that eh another domlec that there same crap with geothermal energy
HELLO HELLO!!!
Where are the 3 wise-men???
yh really where a the three wise men gone
1_prime minister
2_parliamentary representative
3_and guess who
so where is the minister for the roseau valley .mr blackmore doing his job yes/ because he is the min of communication and works but not a word of interest from our own parliamentary representative WHATS UP DOC?HELLO
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No indication that the people of Dominica will be in control of geothermal resources. Africa has natural resources like what. However, the majority of people in those African countries live in dire poverty. DNO could verify for us whether millions went to the payment of legal fees in the initial stages and where or to whom did that money go. We are waiting a response DNO.
U too bias. stupid
Surely, you have problems reading simple comments, much less to understand the written word. Free advice to you. Go and learn to read. Begin with the kindergarten books.
Pro is absolutely correct….weather u are a supporter of the labour party or not is irrelevant….these questions must be asked….we have the opportunity to be the “Dubai’ of the caribbean as well as the opportunity to be the “nigeria” of the caribbean….where all our energy wealth only serves a few…..and the masses are in dire poverty….
stop comparing dominica to this african countries who’s population dominica is a fration,does not everyone in dominica benefit from domlec and other power sources,come of this high horse political crap,non productive dominicans.
you all people make me so sick,that i even misspelled the word fraction,tired of reading crap,and politics of fear.
Back on memory lane. How much money was spent for legal fees even before any work began on the geothermal exploration project? Was it about $2,000,000.00 ($2million)? Who received that huge sum of money? We need to explore but Dominicans should not begin to shout too much or too early? Electricity generated from hydro (water) has not reduced our electricity bills, contrary to what we were told and rejoiced about some years ago.
Didn’t Blackmore boast of the Night-Landing at Melville Hall and LIAT was just waiting to begin night flights. After Govt. spent millions of dollars there, what is the present situation? What did LIAT say about problems with Tailwind?
Ask Blackmore about the sad financial state of our local Public Works Corp., the plight of the workers there, although road projects are going on? Ask him about that bridge being built at Pte. Michel by the foreign construction Co. when our local construction Co. would do a much better job?
Ask him about the Asphalt Plant that Gaddarkhan was permitted to build close to the Layou village and close to one of our most beautiful rivers, against the wishes of an entire village and other patriotic Dominicans? Ask Blackmore also why was the same Gaddarkhan awarded the contract for the second phase of the road project, LOT 2, although the Minister himself expressed concerns about slow pace of work in the 1st. phase and possible breach of contract?
After all is said and done would the energy from Geothermal exploration be controlled by Dominicans? Barley is so different from rice.
If we don’t spend the money on legal issues and something comes up then you will write and say we did not do due diligence and get the necessary legal advice.
Secondly, the management of Domlec is responsible for not doing what is necessary to maximize our hydro-power output. It is too easy for them to use generators and charge us the fuel surcharge for it… nothing to do with Blackmore or government.
I have flown into and out of Dominica several times at night with no issues. I have asked pilots about landing here at night and even the Amerijet pilots said to me its just like any other airport. They don’t come in at night themselves but they couldn’t see a problem with it. That’s the situation.
I agree with you on the Public works situation, it is a mess. As to local companies doing jobs, we all know the story. Whereas we want local business to grow, the local contractors need to step up their game and be more professional and timely. Time is money and Lord knows it has been wasted in the past on some local firms that take their precious time and do not do professional work.
You have to understand that when the EU grants funds for projects, they stipulate that you must use EU firms to do the job. Which other EU firm do you know of in the region that bid for the contract to build both the first and second sections of the road? Let me answer that for you… none. So our only choice is Gaddarkhan or send the peoples money back for them and take a loan at exhorbitant interest rates to do our thing ourselves with whichever company we choose.
I am hoping like you that the Government is positioning itself and the people of Dominica to be the primary beneficiaries of this venture. That is a viable question to the minister.
So mr Ask,let me ask you who should i vote next time?Uwp?idiot
Blackmoore and DNO, what’s the point of these comments and article, if the most important thing isn’t answered- Are the signs from the other test sites hopeful or is there fear of failure? Really, DNO needs to do real journalism and stop blogging to be a real news site.
You may not appreciate this news but some of us are happy to be updated as to the progress of the project. And if you would just be patient I would expect that when all three wells are operational and enough data is derived from them comparisons and analysis can be made and we can have some results.
STupid, the other test sites are still testing, so how can they give u answer from them
Disappointed you wish for failure,thats your kind and all the uwp fanatics.get a life Sort!!!
Solar would be faster, cheaper and more friendly to the environment….just sayin’
and what u gonna do at night when there is no sun smart?
It is better to be silent and be thought of as a fool than to blog and erase all doubt
My parliament-representative in doing a very good job.
Congrats to you MP Blackmoore!
mr.Blackmoore I hope of the the money that will come out of this project will go to the people of their valley
Now thats just greedy… you should say the people of the country….we to like to look for self
hopet he Roseau valley will see more development when all this is finish
Good for my country!!!
Car dealers, please start investing into electronic cars. Let’s make Dominica have the highest number of electric cars per capita.Remember, we are the “Nature Island”.I’m not the smartest thing but I just love my country and want what is best for it and the people who are living there. May God bless my country,Dominica, and the US who has been so good to Dominicans! PEACE
1. If Dominica has a geothermal which uses all the resources of the state and in turn gives all the profits of it to Foreigners, what would the benefits be for locals?
2. I challenge the geothermal people to give a written guarantee of the the so call reduction in rates they are claiming. This is all hype, the reduction in lights is but a pipe dream
When hydro was expanded in the mid eighties dominicans were promised a significant drop. Instead the rates doubled and keep on rising. Geothermal is 10 times more costly to install and maintain than hydro so people do the maths.
To fathom some sort of benefit from this there have to be some importants factors put in place.
1. The system have to be put in place in quick time to harnest time advantage costs.
2. The system have have to be wholly locally owned so that Dominica can scratch the slightes profit and pass it on.
3. The system have to be at least 150 Mega watts so that benefits via economy of scale can be acrued.
Before the readers take an emotional route and dismiss this views as negative they are asked to do thier own research and take a rational approach.
It’s expected that there will be an initial cost burden but I’m of the opinion that with time the cost will be reduced since revenue generated from the exportation of energy from the project will help with the cost of maintenance and such. The way I see it by localizing our source of energy generation will help to make our economy more stable. We would not have to depend on external fuel sources so much and seeing as the prices are constantly increasing and the sources decreasing this can be nothing but good. Also we have to be aware that many countries are trying their best to find alternative sources of energy since we can’t depend on fossil fuels much longer.
my unit drilled 2 wells in afghanistan last year and no exploration is required u drill till u reach heated rock then u drill another well 300m away but 100m shallower than the first u pump acid down the first well until it starts to come up the second hole ( this creates cracks in the rock making whats like a giant radiator in the rock down there ) then u pump an alkaline solution down to neutralize the acid and clean the whole thing out with fresh water what u are then left with is an injection well and a production well water is pumped down the injection well and super heated steam up the productuon well
no exploratory drilling is required thats a waste of money u can find geothermal energy on anyspot on the planets surface its just how deep u willign to go for it all this is just wasting time i wonder who gave them the advice that u have to drill explaratory wells first we know in dca that its close to the surface u just drill and calculate from the depth in afghanistan we drilled 2050m to reach this resource in dca u go alot less come on people we know its there stop wasting money
U aware this process occurs naturally and in instances like in Dominica’s case you dont necessarily need an injection and production well??? And how u saying that its a waste of money? Have you dont research on what happened in St Lucia where the water coming out of the ground was too acidic for the pipes etc? How would they determine the size of the wells if the don’t drill to test???
Do some more research please i beg of u
its what i do for a leaving in lucia they used ground water thats the mistake they mad the reason u use injection and production wells is cause the water u put down thats what comes up as steam its not in the actual volcanic stream so does not pick up acid it passed threw heated hydrofractured rock so if u did any research u would know that so next time u try to ridicule someone think before u act and make sure the person does not drill wells for a living
Don’t know much about this particular topic but I would assume that extreme caution is being taken in this venture seeing as dominica has a high concentration of potential volcanic activity we would want to take care not to upset that. Although given that same basis what you said would make a lot of sense since it would mean that this would make it a lot easier to get to the energy source.
I would really like to say “The experts know what they are doing so if they think they have to do these preliminary exploration then it’s validated” but then again we can’t rule out the possibility that there might be some other issue contributing to the current state of the project.
@me
Good take. Sadly Dominicans don’t like to deal with facts like you present. they like to wrap thier heads in an emotional cloud and just hope for the best.
Most of the money is gonna be wasted in all these bogus preliminaries. Then if there is production they will blame the terrain of dominica for the high cost. What they not telling dominicans is that the money budgeted for this aspect of the program is nearly finish whilst that stage is far from completion.
The main difference between Afghanistan and Dominica is access to financing. The US is spending billions in Afghanistan so no business case is required. Time is more valuable to the US than getting it wrong and trying again. Also the US has been successfully drilling and operating geothermal for decades. The oil industry there has access to far more sophisticated test equipment than the jokers in Dominica so although you might think they are winging it, they are actually taking a calculated risk.
That Rayburn Blackmoore seems to have a lot on his plate to deal with on a day to day basis.
Sometimes it would appear that where as some ministers and ministries are working hard to get results others seem to be just sitting back and relaxing and enjoying the ride…!
Just a thought…
Maybe we should increase Rayburn Blackmoore salary.
i back u on this one he the only minister i can say that doing somethgin in dca the others just seem to be there for there pockets and to steal the lime light i not a laborite but ill give jack his jacket and he deserve more than what he getting now if he was my parlrep i would vote for him again hands down
Give credit where Credit is Due.
Not to take anything away from Mr.blackmore but it will be very interesting to know which of these projects were develope by Mr.Blackmore or members of his teams.
Not because a project falls under the departmnet of works means that the work minister is working as far as i can see he is simply reporting the progress of the ongoing projects.
Maybe we need to put blackmore in charge of GIS. lol.
I haven’t heard the minister ( blackmore) did a project that was not in pipeline before he take on his current portfolio . ( again i stand to be corrected) .
By the way i thought the idea of geothermal energy stated in posie by one of the douglass.( i stand to be corrected). Hope he gets some credit here.
Anyway mr. Blackmore keep up the good works as you are the only Minister who keep the public update on a regular basis with various projects that falls under your ministerial watch.
On a diffrent note i haven’t seen any study of how we are going to utilized this energy source for motor vehicles , boats etc . just some food for thought.
I agree. I like that.
No matter where you go or what your doing there will always be those who will push forward and the other who are jut there for the ride….. Just look around and you will see.