Montserrat:Island
looks to geothermal energy, aggregate to boost economy
By Asha Javeed
The Trinidad Guardian
Port Spain
Petroleumworld.com
09 24 06
The
survival of small islands depends on sourcing alternative
energy supplies, says Margaret Dyer-Howe, Montserrat’s
Minister of Agriculture, Housing and the Environment.
With
the rising cost of energy prices, oil at between
US$60 and US$70 a barrel, smaller islands have to
take the initiative to survive.
Dyer-Howe,
who earlier this month attended the two-day meeting
entitled Energy and Competitiveness in the Caribbean,
said the Government of Montserrat was about to establish
its energy policy.
“We
really need a range, a diversification of energies
for the supply of electricity, in particular, because
it is taking up a substantial amount of revenue
to generate electricity and also to supply water
to the northern side of the island as a result of
the volcano,” she said in an interview with
the Business Guardian.
“We
are looking at solar, wind and geo-thermal. As a
result of the volcano, we believe we have geo-thermal
potential but the requirement for energy is so insignificant.
I would say we only need about two megawatts and
that is not attractive to investors who would want
to develop energy supplies for a larger area.”
But
Dyer-Howe was confident that if Montserrat was given
the opportunity to develop its geo-thermal potential,
it would have energy to supply other Caribbean neighbours.
She
noted that the population, which is now about 5,000—half
of what it was before the Mount Soufriere volcano
erupted—depended largely on grants from the
United Kingdom.
“Our
economy was devastated. Commerce went to almost
nil. So we are really coming up from the ground
trying to rebuild our economy.”
And
if marketed right, Montserrat could be supplying
aggregate to the Caribbean as construction continues
apace in preparation for World Cup Cricket in 2007.
“One
area we feel we have some advantage in is the volcanic
material that is needed throughout the Caribbean
for the building industry. It is growing so rapidly
and the requirements for building material is so
great. We feel if we can have access to the devastated
areas on a more sustained basis that we can provide
aggregate and other sand and volcanic material regionally
and that would generate a significant amount of
revenue for Montserrat.”
She
said Montserrat had already exported to some of
the smaller islands and was hoping to expand its
offering to the wider Caribbean.
She
said the island was also constructing a new airport
with the optimism of tourism rebounding.
“We
only can accommodate small planes for now but we
suspect that once the volcano subsides that we will
getting in an expanded base where we can invite
many more visitors to our island.”
Trinidad
Guardian
Thursday, September 21st 2006
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©2006 Trinidad EGuarian. All Rights Reserved.
