At a recent Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) geothermal energy roundtable, Saint Lucia’s Minister of Energy made a call for greater Caribbean cooperation on geothermal project development:

While several territories of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States are pushing their own domestic agendas in geothermal development, the roundtable discussion … in Saint Lucia also highlighted the need for cooperation. Saint Lucia’s Minister for Energy, Honorable Stephenson King said that “the climate is opportune for strategic and collaborative approach to geothermal resources in (the) small economies (of the Caribbean).

He urged the OECS to speak with a cohesive voice and work to establish a joint vision for a geothermal industry across the region, pooling resources together.

Recently, it was announced that the $20 million geothermal project in St. Vincent & the Grenadines has been kicked off with a drilling contract recently signed. Furthermore the geothermal project in Dominica is looking at ways to export geothermal power to the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Challenges for development in the region are very similar, mostly due to a lack in funding. The Minister further highlighted the value in developing a strategy that would support the individual efforts and in parallel provide functional support in regional cooperation on geothermal development.

Think GeoEnergy has more information from the roundtable event, which was held under the title Advancing Geothermal Energy in the OECS for Economic Development and Resilience.

See previous Green Antilles articles on geothermal energy developments in the Caribbean. 

[Image: Daniel Berek]