Exploratory drilling starts for geothermal project in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Icelandic firm representatives and St. Vincent and the Grenadines representatives met at a ceremony to mark the official commencement of the drilling for a geothermal project on the island.

The National Geothermal Project will include four wells, which will provide between 10MW to 20MW of electricity generation. The drilling is expected to be completed by December 2019.

The CEO of Reykjavik Geothermal, Guðmundur Thoroddsson gave encouraging remarks at the ceremony. Geothermal energy he said, transformed his home country of Iceland. Mr. Thoroddsson drew analogies between the two nations, which both have a small population. 

Iceland went from being the poorest country in Europe to “now rivaling Switzerland”, with one of the highest wealth per capita in the world. This change was the result, Thoroddsson said, from Icelanders developing their own power sources. The island is not reliant on costly oil imports, and chose to invest in renewables, particularly geothermal energy, instead of fossil fuels.

Finally, Mr. Thoroddsson congratulated the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines on starting this journey “because this can really be a journey to prosperity and well-being and wealth”.

Source