| Abstract |
The Eastern Caribbean region is an archipelago of islands that are closely knit, economically, politically, socially, culturally, spiritually and geographically. According to a study done by the United States Department of Energy (USDOE, collectively, these islands have the potential to produce geothermal energy in excess of 16 GWe. Nonetheless, the region has harnessed less than one percent of this energy for commercial used with the geothermal plant located in Guadeloupe. The region however, has not abandoned the notion of replacing their fossil fuel electricity plant with renewable base type of energy but in recent times has make significant leaps and bounds in the development of geothermal across the region. It is understood that only the volcanic islands that lie on the inner arc from Saba in the North to Grenada in the South are being affected by the subduction zone of the Caribbean and North American plate and hence have geothermal potential. Since the islands have little separation between each other, the probability that an inter-regional electrical grid can be built being linked by submarine cables becomes very practical. The economies of these islands are heavily based on tourism and are often times affected greatly by natural disasters and changes in the international arena. With a small population economies of scale can seldom be attained and products to export found. With the exception of Trinidad & Tobago, who has natural gas, St. Vincent & The Grenadines and the Commonwealth of Dominica who have hydro electric plants, Guadeloupe with a geothermal plant, St. Kitts &Nevis and Jamaica with wind farms, the islands are dependent on fossil fuel for the generation of electricity. This dependency on fossil fuel has caused the cost of electricity to be staggering and has caused the populace to seek alternative means of electricity generation. Intermittent sources of electricity generation will not suffice to make the region energy independent from fossil fuel since spinning reserves would be required to ensure grid stability. An Eastern Caribbean interconnection grid will make available this resource to all of the islands along the arc and realization of energy independence can be achieved for the region. |