Above: Point-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Dominica Energy Minister Rayburn Blackmoore will be visiting the Bouillant Geothermal Plant in Guadeloupe Thursday.

Blackmoore’s team will include residents of Dominica’s Roseau valley, local media and other parties; Dominica is currently drilling for geothermal energy in the southern portion of the country.

The trip is an effort to allay concerns by residents of Laudat in Dominica’s Roseau Valley about the construction of a potential geothermal plant in the area.

“What we are going to do is to afford the people of Laudat, members of the media and other interested parties a view of how a plant located in close proximity to residential areas can operate in an environmentally-friendly way,” he said in a release.

The Minister said the Labour Party government was “convinced” that geothermal power would provide a cleaner and cheaper energy source for Dominica.

In December, Dominica signed a contract with an Iceland-based company to begin drilling a pair of geothermal wells in the Roseau Valley.