Dominica has advanced construction on its 10-megawatt Geothermal Power Plant. The plant will be the second in the OECS and the first in CARICOM. It is being established in Laudat and will bring clean energy to 23,000 homes in Dominica.
Construction Manager for the project – Mehmetemin Pay confirmed that the plant is more than 90% complete. He said that the civil construction site is 95% complete. On the mechanical side it is 95% complete and on the part of electrical construction it is 90% complete.
Pay added that the plan is to have commissioning team which keeps a check on all the electrical connections. The commissioning people will come at the site to make the power plant ready for the startup. They are planning their next visit to the construction site on November 24th.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business Trade and Energy – Dr. Vince Henderson described the Geothermal Power Plant as a complex structure. He said that this 10 MW power plant is an amazing site.
According to Henderson, it is a very complex structure that they have seen. He said that they are sure that they will see some shots of what is, being installed here and are happy that the developer ‘Ormat’ is now at an advanced stage of installation of the power plant. Also, they are hoping that by the end of the year they can actually complete the installation and start testing so that they can see the commissioning of the plant early in 2026.
Foreign Affairs Minister Henderson believes that Dominica should not stop at 10-megawatts of power. He added that they should not stop at just 10 MW because here in Laudat they have proven through studies that they have 10 times capacity, that they need to utilise as much of that as possible.
He explained that they are also constructing transmission lines which are connecting the hydro plants in Laudat, Trafalgar, Padu and the Geothermal Power Plant. The transmission lines are being placed on the ground. It is an initiative towards building a resilient electricity network to ensure that the next hurricane will not damage the transmission lines.
With the current advancement in construction, the plant is expected to be completed by December 2025. Henderson affirmed that if everything stays on track, they will have the Geothermal Power Plant completed in terms of installation by the end of this year. They have to test this immediately so that they can get power to and for, throughout Dominica by early 2026.