Above: Dominica

By the Caribbean Journal staff

More geothermal drilling will begin in Dominica in October, according to the country’s Energy Minister, Rayburn Blackmore.

The company that is performing the drilling, Iceland Drilling Company, has already arrived in Dominica and will begin later this month, he said. Environmental impact assessments have been completed for the drilling of a production will in Laudat and for a re-injection well in Trafalgar.

“Towards the end of this month we will see the actual start of the drilling of the production wells,” he said.

Dominica is initially envisioning a 15-megawatt power plant at the site in the country’s Roseau Valley.

““We believe that in the first instance once we can get to the 15 mega watt power plant we will see a reduction of 15-40% in the light bills of consumers and it will be much easier for businesses to really operate in Dominica and at the same time we will be pursuing our long-term goal to constructing a bigger plant of a 120 mega watts,” he said.

The government has secured around $11.5 million in grant funding, along with about $8 million from the government of France for the project.

Iceland Drilling is also drilling wells for Montserrat’s geothermal project.