- A first step towards creating the Centre of Excellence
On 9 March 2022 Sylvie Vanoukia, president of the Guadeloupe Regional Council’s energy committee, had the pleasure of opening the first meeting of the steering committee of the Caribbean Centre of Excellence on Geothermal Energy (CECG). Around thirty regional players came together for this morning of discussions aimed at setting up the very first CECG task force.
- Reminder of the Caribbean’s geothermal potential
With plans for the installation of a 300 MW geothermal energy source by 2030, the Caribbean is a region that favours the development of geothermal electricity production. At the same time, Guadeloupe is leading the region with the Bouillante geothermal power plant, the only power station on the Caribbean Arc that produces electricity for the Guadeloupe region.
- Motivations, tasks and role of the CECG
The creation of a Caribbean Centre of Excellence on Geothermal Energy should speed up and facilitate future projects for geothermal energy in the region by meeting the sector’s needs in terms of training, cooperation, communication and the pooling of resources and expertise.
- Setting up of the steering committee
During the meeting the CECG steering committee members were named as follows :
- Regional Council of Guadeloupe,
- Synergîle,
- EDF Archipel Guadeloupe,
- L’Université des Antilles,
- L’Association Française des Professionnels de la Géothermie (AFPG),
- SAS Géothermie Bouillante,
- Géothermie de Guadeloupe,
- Le BRGM Guadeloupe,
- L’ADEME Guadeloupe,
- La DEAL Guadeloupe,
- Organisation of the Caribbean States (OECS),
- Guadeloupe formation.
The opening up of the CECG’s governance is vital to the Hub’s development. Cooperation between geothermal energy players in the Caribbean will ensure that the Centre of Excellence’s identified purposes are fully covered.
- State of work progress
Studies carried out in the framework of the Hub’s development confirm interest for such a structure as expressed by many Caribbean partners. It has become a strategic project in the Caribbean’s ecological transition, particularly in terms of training and the pooling of resources for the development of geothermal solutions. The first scenarios were presented during the steering committee meeting.