St. Lucia Hopes to Use Volcanoes to Generate Renewable Energy

The Caribbean is in many ways an ideal location for the development of renewable energy (much like the Middle East). Ideally positioned to take advantage of open water, trade winds, and ample sunlight, it would seem the Caribbean should already be fully enjoying renewable energy. However, that rarely is the case and most countries in the region are still predominantly powered by fossil fuels. A new deal being signed on the island of St. Lucia, however, may be enough to spur on further development in neighboring islands and bring a little relief to a region of the world that has seen right in their own backyards the downsides of oil.

On Monday, it was announced that the volcanic island nation of St. Lucia had entered into a thirty year contract with Qualibou Energy Corp. to develop the island's geothermal energy sources for renewable energy. Qualibou, a renewable energy company founded in 2003, believes that by drilling in the right places they would be able to set up a geothermal plant capable of generating 150 megawatts of geothermal energy. Currently, Qualibou hopes to begin drilling sometime in the next eighteen months near two of St. Lucia's famous volcanic mountains: The Pitons. While there has been some concern that the drilling and construction of a geothermal power plant in the region could upset the delicate ecosystem, CEO of Qualibou Stephen Baker, has assured people that it will not. Since the Pitons are also currently designated a World Heritage site, Qualibou has been forced to look outside the actual boundaries of the designated area for drilling sites.

While the drilling of the geothermal plant will provide some renewable energy to the island they still will be reliant on foreign oil to power the remainder of the island's grid. Currently, St. Lucia is entirely dependent on oil imports and hopes to relieve some of that financial tension with this geothermal power plant. There has also been some talk of selling some of the generated power to the neighboring island of Martinique. Other details on the project have been scarce, but it is at least a step towards more renewable energy in the Caribbean.

As I mentioned earlier, the Caribbean has been seen by some as an area ripe for renewable energy development, but so far the nations in the region have yet to fully exploit it. Financial problems have been an obstacle for many struggling nations as they continue to pay for imported oil for their current power grids and deal with other economic threats. Some countries, however, do currently take advantage of some amount of solar and wind power and believe that given the right technology there is plenty of space to expand into offshore wind farms or tidal power. For now, the world will have to see exactly how big the St. Lucia geothermal project becomes and if it is done right. Given the current situation in the Gulf, it may be the perfect time to try and work with Caribbean governments to establish more renewable energy projects in the region.

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