Eastern Caribbean 2006 Geothermal meeting
The link below lists topics and participants at the —-
Eastern Caribbean Geothermal Energy Project (Geo-Caraïbes)
Stakeholder Consultation
Roseau, Dominica – 2006 (1)
http://www.oas.org/dsd/reia/Documents/geo-caraibes.html
The list of participants and islands represented are similar to the list of 2004 (link at right in blog roll). Cuba was included in the 2006 conference.
Guadeloupe with the granddaddy of Geothermal plants in the Caribbean was also represented at this meeting.
Gerald W. Huttrer, Geothermal Management Company, Inc had a presentation on: Geothermal Potential of St. Kitts and Nevis Islands.
Dominica had two separate presentations: Geothermal Project and Dominica Geothermal Exploration was presented Dr. Simon Young.
Saint Lucia also had a presentation.
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One of the Eastern Caribbean Island with geothermal potential is missing — MONTSERRAT! Notice that Dr. Simon Young was at this conference, so surely Montserrat wasn’t accidentally forgotten. Dr. Simon Young was the first director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, at the very beginning of Montserrat’s Volcano “crisis”.
If we remember our history — way back in 2006 there was an election in Montserrat and just before that election the Committee for the Redevelopment of Montserrat (CRM) discovered that the elected Government of Montserrat had negotiated (but not yet signed) a contract with Dr. Kerry McDonald. After strong protests by citizens the contract was not signed. It was argued by the CRM that the contract was unfair to Montserrat. This is the second time that this blog has covered the 2006 pre-election Geothermal episode. (See Nevis and Geothermal article below for more details.)
WHY wasn’t Montserrat represented at this 2006 Geothermal conference?
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In 1999 Montserrat was mentioned in this document: Geothermal Small power generation opportunities in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean Sea, by Gerald W. Huttrer, Geothermal Management Company, Inc. Frisco, Colorado. Huttrer, who attended the 2006 Caribbean Geothermal conference wrote:
“Montserrat – Even before the 1995 eruptions, the southwest-
ern flank of the Soufrière Hills volcano was the site of solfataric
activity and of numerous thermal springs. There was also sig-
nificant seismic activity and several well developed fracture
systems transecting the volcano.” (2)
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In a paper published in March 2008, Erouscilla P. Joseph (Seismic Research Unit, University of the West Indie) wrote:
Montserrat
Geothermal Sites / Projects:
•Montserrat has an estimated 940
MWe of geothermal power
potential.
•Even before the 1995 eruption,
the southwestern flank of the
Soufrière Hills Volcano was the
site of solfataric activity and of
numerous thermal springs.
•There was also significant
seismic activity, and several
well developed fracture systems
transecting the volcano (Huttrer,
1998 (3)**************************************************
Sources:
(1) http://www.oas.org/dsd/reia/Documents/geo-caraibes.html
(2) http://geoheat.oit.edu/bulletin/bull20-2/art4.pdf
(3) http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/sids/2008_roundtable/presentation/energy_joseph.pdf
Geothermal Energy Potential in the Caribbean Region, Erouscilla P. Joseph, Seismic Research Unit, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad
