NO.22 /2016 DATE: May 23, 2016
GOVERNMENT MOVING FORWARD WITH THE
EXPLORATION OF GRENADA’S GEOTHERMAL
POTENTIAL
ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, Monday, May 23, 2016:
In Keeping with the Geothermal Support Partnership Framework
Agreement that was signed in 2014, between the Governments of
Grenada and New Zealand, aimed at facilitating the exploration
and eventual use of geothermal energy the following have now
been completed:
· The review of previous studies;
· The undertaking of extensive geochemical, geophysics and
geological surveys;
· Analysis of the institutional, legislative and regulatory
frameworks for undertaking environmental and social impacts
relative to developments requiring such; and
· Preliminary analysis of the infrastructural capacity relative to
facilitating access of equipment, to the potential site.
In July 2015 at the Grenada Geothermal Partner’s Forum,
the presence of a high temperature geothermal reservoir of
about 4 – 8km2, located North of Mt. St. Catherine was
confirmed. It was also stated that this reservoir has a potential
temperature between 220-2400C or higher, which if correct, is
of a capacity to generate between 15-20 megawatts (MW) of
power.
Within the first quarter of 2016, experts from both Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and JACOBS
(New Zealand), completed:
- a second Geoscience report on the status of the Geothermal resource;
- a Geothermal Resources Development Roadmap; and
- a preliminary civil engineering survey;
They also held consultations with officials from the Ministries
of Finance and Energy; Works; Health; Agriculture and
officials from the statutory bodies whose work involve
environmental and social issues pertaining to the Geothermal
process.
During the period April 4th – 8th, Mr. Aoki Issei – JICA’s
Deputy Director for Central America and the Caribbean and
his Deputy, Mr. Nakayama Shun visited Grenada and held
meetings with environmental and social stakeholders and paid
a courtesy calls to the Permanent Secretary and other senior
officials of the Ministry of Finance, exploring the progress
to date on Grenada’s geothermal initiative. It was agreed that
the immediate next step in this process will be the hosting of
broad based Geothermal Forum before the second half of 2016.
The Ministry takes this opportunity to record its appreciation to
all who have participated in the process thus far.
The Government of Grenada welcomes the bilateral cooperation
and the technical assistance provided by friendly Governments,
and takes this opportunity to acknowledge its gratitude to the
Governments of New Zealand and Japan through JACOBS
New Zealand Ltd., and JICA respectively, for their demonstrated
cooperation and collaboration in this initiative.
To date, in excess of US$1M has been spent to date by these
Governments on the Grenada Geothermal process.