The Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica has signed a Framework Agreement that will initiate the first large-scale green hydrogen geothermal development in the Caribbean. This milestone agreement represents a material step taken by a Caribbean Island to monetise its significant geothermal resources on a large scale, through its generation of green hydrogen and green electricity both for export and local consumption.
This Agreement defines the roadmap for a Joint Venture Company to be established within the coming months that will be responsible for raising the investment in and delivery of large-scale Geothermal Production for a Green Hydrogen Complex. This Complex would serve as the cornerstone of a Green Eco Industrial Park in Dominica which has been declared as a strategic objective by the Government of Dominica.
Dominica, a Caribbean Island with land space of less than 300 square miles, has a potential capacity to develop over 1GW of geothermal power, and its Government has been seeking to pursue a Green Hydrogen Industrial Development Programme in the pursuit of sustainable economic growth in the face of global realities, in particular climate change.
Also, party to the Agreement is the Dominica Geothermal Development Company Limited (DGDC), a state-owned special purpose vehicle to spearhead activities leading to the harness of geothermal resources for the primary purpose of production and sale of industrial energy commodities within and outside of the Commonwealth of Dominica.
The other party to the Agreement is Kenesjay Green Dominica Limited (KGDL), a subsidiary of Kenesjay Green Limited, which is a project development company indigenous to the Caribbean that focuses on the development of industrial scale decarbonisation projects for the Caribbean. Kenesjay Green is currently developing the $250M USD NewGen Hydrogen Project that is to be located in the Point Lisas Industrial Estate of Trinidad and Tobago.
This Framework Agreement establishes a basis for these parties to collaborate for the development of a Geothermal Exploration and Geothermal Resources Concession. This in turn will drive the achievement of key Government objectives that include the establishment of a Green Industrial Eco-Park Project for the development and use of Geothermal Power for the production, local consumption and international export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives, such as Green Ammonia.
The Joint Venture between DGDC and KGDL will initially execute activities to de-risk the project. This includes: sharing of technical resources and capabilities, progressing the bankability of the project, engineering, marketability and other Feasibility Studies, and progressing Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) work. Subsequent to the de-risking activities, an Investment Framework for the Project will be developed, which will guide the development of a Special Purpose vehicle to deliver the project.
The Framework Agreement signing was formally announced on April 26, 2023, during the first Hydrogen Summit being held as part of 15th Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum in Miami, Florida.
