The Dominica government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with a Trinidad-based energy company for the acceleration of the Regional Green Hydrogen Project Development.
Environment Minister, Cozier Frederick, who signed the MOU, said the objective is to work towards the realisation of the Caribbean’s significant geothermal and other clean energy resources to develop a regional hydrogen export market in the region.
“We are convinced that in Dominica with the climatic conditions in our case, major hurricanes, we are confident that the geothermal project will stand against that sort of onslaught as compared to a solar for instance,” said Frederick.
“The independence that the geothermal would bring, which will transform eventually into our real hydrogen, we think it will be robust, solid and something we will commit to as a government… ensuring that we tidy up all the intricacies of all of this since it is our first time for us in our region to have a successful project.
“Within the construct of the Dominica space we do have the political will and …I am comfort in knowing that we have the political will to take on a project like that,” he said, adding “while it creates energy independence, for want of a better term it is easy on the pockets of the grass roots people…”
Chairman of the Trinidad-based Kenesjay Green Limited, Phillip Julien, said Dominica knew definitively that it wanted to have a green energy economy realised from the geothermals.
“They approached us to see how they could actually make that happen,” he said, asking what would the geothermal be realised through the green hydrogen economy.
“They laid it all out in the country’s assessment report to the point where we were able to successfully execute a framework agreement with the government of Dominica as well as the geothermal development company of Dominica earlier this year.”
He said it sets the “concrete stage of creating this joint venture and special purpose vehicle that the investors are attracted to”.
The MOU was also signed with the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, which accelerates priority initiatives toward a Climate-Smart Zone, delivering resilience, social development, and broad-based economic growth for the Caribbean.
It was formed in 2017 by Caribbean leaders to strengthen the region’s readiness and response to disasters. The objective is to help transform the Caribbean economy through fast-tracking sound public and private investment opportunities, supporting climate action and economic growth.
