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 4^th – 8^th, 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.